A Summer Flower CSA…

Hello, sweet friends! Happy 2020! I can hardly believe I’m typing that twenty-twenty (how!?), but so it is. Winter has recently started here which means freezing temperatures, snow, ice, rain, mud and little plant life for awhile. So I thought I would share a little bit of color and warmth from this past summer. I actually have a few things to catch up on sharing from last summer and I’m excited to start off with this post.

This past summer we signed up for a Flower CSA from a local farm. CSA stands for community-supported agriculture and it’s a crop production and distribution system that directly connects farmers and consumers. In short, people buy “shares” of a farm’s harvest in advance and then receive a portion of the crops as they’re harvested. This has typically been done with produce, but more recently farmers have started offering flower CSA’s, honey CSA’s, and other types of products. Many years ago, before I became a mother, I participated in a vegetable CSA and you can read all about that here and here.

Last spring when I learned that a local farm was offering a flower CSA, I was thrilled. I ended up being the first person to sign up for their CSA because I jumped on it so quickly. Everyone who knows me knows how much I adore fresh flowers and knowing that these flowers were going to be locally, sustainably and organically grown had me over the moon! So I signed up and then waited several months for the blooms to be ready.

The weekly flower subscription program, that we received was offered by Bud and Blooms. It was so lovely to have fresh, beautiful blooms in our home all season long while also supporting local agriculture and small business. Bud and Bloom’s flowers and herbs are grown using organic methods–no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides, and using only natural soil amendments and fertilizers. So it felt really good to support their work and to enjoy the bounty each week in our home. Also, Colleen, the farmer who runs the CSA is so sweet. When one of my CSA pick-ups conflicted with my vacation to Ireland, she allowed me to tack that week’s blooms on at the end of the subscription. That’s just one of the reasons why I love supporting local, small businesses they are so kind and personal.

I hope that you enjoyed this little glimpse into the program. I will definitely be participating again this coming summer and I will have lots more gorgeous images to share then. xo