We Adore Flowers Is Not Painted Green
My major wasn’t business or psychology and clearly not marketing;)
At 18, my major was Environmental Conservation at Northern Michigan University. And like half the kids at Northern I dropped out. I wasn’t ready college and I wasn’t ready for the student loans.
At community college I had a Journalism major for fun because it didn’t matter. I was taking Gen Ed classes and I was, and I am, a huge This American Life fan.
Eight years later when I applied to MSU, I declared a major in Environmental Economics and Policy. Yes, let’s use the system to shape a better one. I still like this approach.
Then after an Astronomy class, I realized how tiny I really am across space and time and decided to focus my attention on a smaller horizon; one I could actually have hands on. A piece of land. I switched to Organic and Sustainable Horticulture, with a lot of attention on pomology. Peaches for peace was my plan:) Ha, I still like this idea too:) I love peaches.
Not to mention my five years of canvassing for environmental groups which is a lifetime during that work. Anyone who has knocked on doors knows.
So I don’t do this to appeal to the heart strings, or follow some trend, I care about this truly. I love the place so much, I find so much peace along a river, that I want future creatures to get their chance to love it. Even though it looks like we humans might just eat ourselves out of house and home, I am going to choose better.
One glaring question is why do I have flowers from across the world during the winter? Ya I don’t feel good about it. But frankly if I don’t have sales for four months of the year, I can’t offer the sales of the good stuff. I am not a purist, to me that is better than having no flower farm. And maybe I am not being creative enough, but I am open to ideas. I am growing tulips in winter now and we dry tons of flowers. Both tulips and dried flowers are expensive to offer and they aren’t most people’s first choice.
I have studied a lot of permaculture, it appeals to the same part of my brain that likes economics, the outputs become the inputs. Our farm has been thoughtfully designed for airflow, water movement, shade shifting, space doubling and labor reducing. We are small but I think it is better this way. Our impact is small, golly even positive but that is hard to calculate.
Reading this I could see how someone would put me into some kind of hippy box. I probably have a few Flower Power streaks in my wild hair but I see myself as a scientist. Someone trying to be helpful and responsible in reality. I am open to change and hard truths. I believe in personal responsibility. Even if at the end of it, we humans aren’t able to make choices that are healthy for the planet and our own future. I am gonna do my part here on this little farm.
Yes we choose Earth saving practices every time and I am 100% excited to talk about what exactly our inputs and outputs are and how we can do better. I’m into it and love suggestions. Go team!