Floral Joy!
Give Mel some love the next time you see her!
Greetings!
Our Farm Manager, Amelia, is on vacation in the Outer Banks (we miss you Amelia!) so we have a guest writer for you this week! Melissa Shaffer, aka Mel, helps at Two Boots with our florist deliveries, staffing our farmers’ market and most recently making market bouquets. She also has her own floral business called Bouq, a traveling build your own bouquet bar focusing on local and sustainable offerings. - Elisa
Greetings, Two Boots fans!
Floral joy is something I've been thinking a lot about this summer. Being a seasonal helper
affords opportunities to dive into great work from an outside, (but still close-up) perspective. The fresh-back-to-school-like look of a crop just starting to bloom (side note: welcome back, dear dahlias!), the possibilities of subtle items like frosted explosion grass (it looks like a sparkler!), and the inadvertent artistry of an organized van nearly overflowing with bulk blossoms.
Recently, I pulled up to Two Boots to see a farm full of florists and farmers making use of a robust harvest to practice their vocations on “flower camp” day. The first thing I spied was a group of folks practicing sustainable flower installation techniques on the frame of a port-o-john! I laughed from, well, joy. And, guess what? They made even that space look stunning!
Floral joy is something that is sometimes intentionally created, and other times wildly surprising–frequently with generous overlap. At market recently, I asked some of our customers if they might be willing to share about floral joy, for the blog. There was a lot of wonderful feedback! A long-time regular, Luke, talked about his newfound love for gladiolas. He’d recently traveled to Pakistan and had experienced seeing them in a new light. Ellen, from Local Color, talked about Henry Eilers rudbeckia being a great start for designs–how “it’s so full and so good!”
Our customers at market this past weekend.
Leah shared her gratitude for Two Boots’ flower bar and for “having options.” Jacylyn appreciated the flower bar being organized, colorful, affordable, and local. Other customers, like Mariyah, from B. Willow, remarked about the “experiential” nature of the bar: “It’s a great experience to pick what speaks to me. And what speaks to me next Sunday may be different.”
(Btw, shout out to fellow flower pros for stopping by at market time–flower people supporting flower people is also flower joy!)
Iryna looks forward to market every week–and remarked that our “hydrangeas are the only ones that don’t wilt.” Dave took a moment to notice how spectacular the hydrangeas were. I think he was surprised!
Katie appreciated having flowers that last a long time and another Katie mentioned that she “gasped upon seeing the dahlias” One customer (please forgive that I forgot to jot down your name), wanted to find a farm-designed bouquet to bring her mother some cheer after a difficult week. Heather mentioned that flowers can create happiness. Science concurs! (See Dr. Loretta G. Breuning’s research on flowers’ effects on dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin in Psychology Today. )
Being part of the process that goes into nurturing stems with the potential to transport joy is quite a tender honor. Do you have any flower thoughts that spark delight? We’d love to hear more about your flower joy.
Feel free to comment on our Insta posts with the hashtag #flowerjoy. Or, perhaps, if you like, simply give yourself the space to consider. And thank you for making Two Boots part of your days. We sincerely look forward to sharing flower joy with you at the next market!
~ Mel
