How I started Farming
This website has been a long time coming, and I'm so thrilled to finally have a better space to share more about my vision, flower farm, how-tos and other aspects of growing and selling flowers
A little about me: My name is Galena and my husband and I live in the beautiful PNW in Washington State. We grew up here, met as kids and fell in love after high-school. When we became adults we knew we wanted to settle and raise our family here... and we're currently doing that with our four wonderful kids!
It's a lot to balance flower farming, homeschooling (yes, I do that too!), being a mom, and all of life but I find it all worth it, even if overwhelming at times! I'm what many would call an ambivert: introverted with a side of extrovert, but when it comes to gardening, plants, flowers... I will talk your ear off ALL. DAY. LONG.
Unlike some other farmers, I didn't actually grow up doing much growing of anything, let alone flowers. The property I lived on had a lot of trees, which meant that the gardening we did do wasn't always very successful.. and it was all vegetables.
So what made me want to do it?
It was a combo of things, but at the root was a trip to England.
In 2017, my husband and I had the unique opportunity to travel in the UK for 3 months... I learned a lot about myself on that trip and it changed my life in so many ways - and it also instilled in me a love for gardens and a desire to create as many as I could!
Why? One of the things that is built into the fabric of the English way of life is gardens. Everywhere you turn, people turn their smallest of spaces into gorgeous gardens. Huge amounts of land are divided up into allotments, which people cultivate, add to and then eventually they get passed onto other people, who continue doing the same.
The mindset is that of adding more beauty to the world.. not just for yourself but for others. A focus on generational benefit and leaving the world a better place. It also contributes to a slower way of life (you can't rush plants!) and an attitude that it's worthwhile to "stop and smell the roses", and from that flows something that is unique to experience and hard to describe.
As an American, the difference between their culture of gardening: the slowing down to enjoy the little things, the desire of many to cultivate beauty and spread it - the difference from what I was used to was stark. And I left there with a goal to cultivate my own space, no matter how small(!) and help spread the joy of gardens even MORE in my home country.
So that's my vision: to help others realize the value of creating beauty; to help equip others to grow their own gardens; to spread kindness through flowers; to cultivate the desire to slow down and enjoy the beauty in front of us.. and at the end of the day, hopefully, help unite people over a common love of the beauty of flowers!
