The farm is still vibrating coming off our Flower Fair high. Y’all it was so SO good! (Well, except for the part where I broke my foot… that’s a story for another day… when it’s funny.) The past few evenings I’ve driven around on the golf cart overcome with pride in our community and team with what we have done and what we are still building. The magic of the farm is alive around every corner.

Our “love” sign stands as a beacon in the fields and has already become the feature photo op as visitors discover our world. The Victory Garden has been so well received as folks have adored the interactive and educational theme of this garden and are excited to come back later this season to pick from the rows. The property is now dotted with signs to explore the fields and identify what’s growing, and better yet; we have a welcoming spot to greet you, our new Farm Shop!

The Farm Shop has been such a journey. At last year's July event, we knew we needed a store and so I was tasked with drawing the vision. Nothing concrete, just an idea of what we wanted to do. I remember the night I drew it in the quiet dark at my kitchen table. A simple little building with a welcoming porch and a flag flying on the corner. A sketched cartoon rendition at best. We rolled with that image, putting it on posters and telling our community what we wanted to do.

Over the last year, that vision changed, and we began working on blueprints for a much larger, more complex version of my tiny store drawing. We met with builders, engineers, and architects to make this massive new store happen. Looking at those blueprints it looked like we were building a 2 story house - in fact, the blueprint WAS larger than my house!

As January crept in, and the timeline to build became stressful, we all started to get a feeling this wasn’t quite right. We didn’t know why, but this big dream didn’t sit as well as some of our others. Then we got the call. The same sort of call we’ve gotten used to answering. The project couldn’t happen on time (long lead times and supply chain issues) and the cost would be more than double what we were originally quoted. That kind of call is usually enough to knock the wind out of your sails, but ironically we all found relief in this call. Because it didn’t feel right.

We still wanted a store and we were committed to it opening this year, so what would we do? The same thing we always have: make a different, better plan! So we did. After stopping the groundbreaking we bought another utility building and worked like mad to convert what most folks would use as a backyard shed into the cutest farm shop you have ever seen! Our team worked around the clock to insulate, drywall, paint, and climate control the perfect farm boutique to greet folks at the farm.

We have filled it with some of our flowers and favorite things and even better, we have found amazingly talented folks in our community who have a passion to create, but not a place to share, and brought them in. Each person’s wares in our shop has a direct connection to us here and the items they have so lovingly crafted are also some of the most cherished possessions in our own homes. We are working to highlight each of these folk's stories in our new shop and show the connection through flowers. From hand-carved milk stools my uncle Jack makes to the prettiest floral watercolors made by sweet friend Pam. My dreams of telling so many more stories through the fiber connection of flowers is literally in that store.

The poster drawing I did when I first dreamed up the vision of the farm store came out of a dusty bag last week and we all had a good laugh. Because at the end of the day, that simple drawing was exactly what we needed and exactly what we ended up creating.

The Farm Shop began regular hours this week so I hope you take some time to come out and see the stories and amazing creations of our farm and community tucked inside. 

XOXO, Jess