I wasn’t sure about writing a blog. There is an internal struggle sometimes with knowing how much of “our story” to put out into the ether of the internet. What about our privacy? What if no one reads it? Do I really have anything valuable to say? Will anyone care? When in the world am I going to squeeze that into the schedule?

Honestly, I don’t know the answers to any of those questions. It’s possible no one will read it and no one will care, but I’m leaning into the idea that sharing stories and connecting with people, even if it’s through a computer, has great value. I also try to remind myself that the people I want to know and learn from aren’t the glossy “influencers” of Instagram. I am drawn to people who show me who they are, not just what they’re selling. Pretty flowers are an important part of what we do, but the business doesn’t start and end there. Grateful Gardeners is a kaleidoscope of stories, reasons, dreams, and yes…. amazing flowers. The whole story is so much more interesting, at least we think so, and we hope you do too. So here we go…

Tom and I are not trained farmers, didn’t grow up on farms, never formally studied agriculture. Yet, here we are in midlife creating a business around a vocation that wasn’t “in the master plan.” You know the one, the plan that you have in your head from the time you graduate from high school. “I’ll go to college, get a great job, make lots of money, get married, buy a big house, have a couple of kids and live happily ever after.” For us, it was our respective divorces that led to a big fat reality check: Sometimes “plans” fail. Better yet: sometimes your “plans” weren’t actually “your” plans at all. When divorces happened to us, we were both left feeling disillusioned, confused, and fearful about our futures. Meeting each other during that tumultuous time led to a lot (and I mean A LOT) of discussions about our life choices and how we wanted our lives to look on the other side of divorce. Thankfully, that included being together. We knew we wanted to start a new life together, but we had no idea what it would look like.

Tom and I unexpectedly found ourselves sitting in his mother Diana’s office in Loveland, Colorado in February 2018. We were married just a year and a half earlier and we were settling into our new life; blending our children and our household goods. Things had been bumpy coming out of marriages and into another one in a relatively short time, but we were settling into it. Diana said, “you know I signed up for this online Floret flower farming class and it’s really cool. I’d love for you both to watch a module with me.”

And so it began… like a slow simmering stew, the ideas and dreams of flower farming began to mix and meld. It wasn’t instantaneous. It took a little time and initially we just thought “wouldn’t it be fun to grow some flowers together.” We were longing to spend time on a project that didn’t include our jobs or our kids. Up to that point in our lives, those two things demanded constant attention, and as most people know, both of those things can be exhausting, and to be honest, not much fun. We were dedicated employees and parents but there was little room for much else. At the beginning of the career train and even at the beginning of parenting, we just kind of coasted in auto pilot, but as time passed, the jobs became more routine. When the kids could actually make themselves a sandwich, we realized that we needed to do something for ourselves. Grateful Gardeners was born and Tom and I were re-born.

Next week on the blog…

Our first growing season