The slivers of light have escaped the border of the horizon. I have seen the first rays of sunshine at the end of the dark tunnel of winter on a flower farm.  While we don’t quite yet have flowers blooming here, we are merely weeks away from their anticipated arrival and I couldn’t be happier. The cold winter months are filled with lots of desk work and my magnetic connection to flowers is left yearning. I get by with supplemental vitamin D and the occasional brightly colored seed catalog in the mailbox. Otherwise, my very colorful life lives out a few months in black and white.  While many may consider this time a welcomed period of rest from the long summer hours, instead I feel the flower pieces missing from my puzzle.

This past week was a real treat for my thirsty flower soul when I was forced to couple the few botanicals I have with sourced in flowers.  The color and smell immediately filled me up with all that I had been deprived of during the winter season. Feeling the stems in my hands as I regained my design balance felt so refreshing.  I imagine it’s much like what animals feel when coming out of a deep winter hibernation; stretching and flexing, well rested and recharged.

As the next few weeks are filled with the daily tasks of sowing millions of seeds and planting out some of our earliest babies, we will also begin the much-anticipated watch for the first bloom of 2017. We will begin documenting our crop walks and routinely check on our Hellebore, Tulips, Daffodils, Ranunculus, Anenome, and Poppy crops. I am excited to grow into a brightly colored future!