Friday, August 30, 2013

Vote for Local Color Flowers in the Martha Stewart American Made Contest


Martha Stewart's American Made Contest! Vote for Local Color Flowers, Baltimore, Maryland!


Flowers from my farm gardens, here at Country Blooms. Go check out the links below to see all the amazing possibilities with local in season flowers. Much more to come...


I'd like to invite you to come explore the world of local flowers......


VOTE!! over at Martha Stewart for Local Color Flowers and while your there enjoy her classic creativity to inspire your everyday beauty.

Ellen Frost is a forerunner in the local flower movement and I am a huge fan! Located on the east coast  in Baltimore, Maryland, inspiring flower farmers and designers everywhere to go local!

Check out her site at Local Color Flowers! and pop over there and by here often to see local flower farmers and designers as we press forward to rebuild the flower industry on a local level.

I'll be linking to other amazing talents and inspirations to share how things are developing.

I'm so excited and proud to be a part of this movement, since 2005. Buying local flowers provides you with the freshest seasonal blooms, unusual varieties and very unique flower arrangements; long lasting, fragrance, color textures... need I say more? Come experience the farm fresh romance yourself...

Stop by the road stand here  at my flower farm, help yourself; grab a fresh cut bouquet of farm garden flowers, a map for the Color Tour along with one of my new business cards, and experience what its all about....

Wishing you Blessings and fresh blooms, Teemie

Happy Labor Day weekend

Wish you all a safe Labor Day weekend. Mine will be filled with family and friends and the greenhouse tweaking to get it ready for the plastic. Its a low tunnel for growing direct in the ground for flowers early next spring....

I am revving up the road side stand to offer flowers by the bunch and vased for you to grab and go. Sunflowers, zinnias, lizzes and more at very affordable prices. My business cards and the latest Color Tour map will also be there.

This is a wonderful new format of the map with all the areas events throughout the season, just pull in and help yourself.

No need to come to the house or the farm garden studio.


Friday, August 23, 2013

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Hours by appointment for fall, etc...

Fall is an extreme season for me... Please call for an appointment before driving out this far. Most of my orders are taken over the phone so feel free to call.

Reserving dates now for 2014 Green Weddings and Events!  I am blessed that they are filling fast, call for a Wedding Packet to be mailed direct to you or facebook me.

As  much as I would like to have a brick & mortar store in town to accommodate the walk-ins, it won't allow me time to grow these lovely farm fresh flowers and herbs. So actually we're working around the flower's schedule not mine lol.

The Farm Garden Studio floor is strewn with cast offs from creating on going floral projects. Herbs are being potted up in hopes of wintering over in the greenhouse that is sloooooowly going up. Getting ready for a couple fall events for you, and moving my studio goods from house to the farm studio has been quite a chore plus trying to get some canning done for winter. whew....

All in all I love what I do and am very grateful for this opportunity to serve you as a creative resource for your life celebrations.

Wishing you blooms and blessings throughout your day, Teemie


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Local Flowers....When is a flower farmer a farmer?



I met with a gentleman yesterday as we chatted about my flower business I felt challenged to a point to prove I am a farmer. The fact that I also design seemed to throw him out of his comfort zone of soybeans. corn, sugar beets etc... type of farming.

In the herb bouquet above I have grown each plant, bloom, leaf from seed or propagation. I gathered them by cutting, placed them in water to condition them and then arranged them, then sold them to a customer who loved the scent and the fact they were grown without chemicals, using all natural sustainable methods.

I weed, hoe, till, mulch, I sweat. I plan. I plant. I harvest, on 2.5 acres in size and location its considered an Urban Farm. Although I am surrounded by conventional farm land with fields of corn and soybeans.

I do not own a tractor, yet many of blooms are provided despite that fact, for designing weddings and all occasion farm fresh flower arrangements.

Flower Farmers don't sell their products by the bushel or peck. They sell by the stem, bunch or arrangement. usually with a passion for beauty, fragrance and nature's creatures such as honey bees and butterflies that seem to go deeper than the conventional farmer or so it appears these days.

There's a local flower movement happening here in the USA. More and more folks who love the sustainable ag lifestyle are planting flowers to be sold at local farmers markets, farm stands and local florists.  Many grow utilizing organic or natural methods.

Local  flowers do not have to travel but a few miles vs thousands of miles out of country, last longer up to two weeks for some blooms. Often the varieties are quite different from your typical florist fare of carnations and pomps.

So am I a farmer? Yes I am and I love having my hands in the soil. Watching the miracle of plants go from seed to bouquet is no less than amazing with each creation. For me, its a passion that has grown over the years, working with Brides or designing a Sympathy arrangement from the farm gardens...  my business is a place of beauty and soul depth fulfillment , it is what drives my passion for growing specialty cut flowers and designing with them.

Out west a florist is expected to have local flowers on hand due to their location and weather. Out east a shop called Local Color Flowers is making headway for the local flower movement because of the owner, Ellen Frost's devotion to using in seasonal local product from local growers.

I am so grateful for my loyal customers who appreciate my hard work  farming and designing. Each floral occasion is a celebration of life for all of us; from a single stem, a simple bouquet, to a wedding party, to a garden style arrangement.

Here's to the local flower movement. HERE! HERE!!!! Maybe someday the rose growers will return to the Thumb of Michigan.

I hope you'll stay tuned in. I'll be sharing here each Tuesdays for more on the local flower movement.

Wishing you all a day filled blooms and blessings. Teemie

Friday, August 16, 2013

From The Farm Garden Studio

 Its all in the details....




Vintage lace wrap secured with a vintage broach.

 Peonies of dusty rose, pink and white from local farmer Charlie Zheim, wild gathered lavender phloxs, Lizzianthus buds



Bridal bouquet waiting for delivery.

Now is the time to reserve your peony wedding bouquets. These beauties come once a year. Just a few short weeks of availability for weddings and events.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Till next year... sweethearts of mine....



till next year sweethearts of mine, these lovely peonies... sigh

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

still catching my breath

The wedding was a whirl wind of flower picking a bit of wild gathering, living in the studio for almost  24 hours straight... conditioning, cutting arranging.... sweeping the piles for the compost were quite colorful, more than I like to see as this means there was too many blooms pitched due to breakage.

You can see the pics on my facebook for now. It was lovely wedding!

Friday, August 9, 2013

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Ladies! Its time for some Flower Child Fun!





Flower Child Fun Day! 
Coming soon DTBA






God's beauty... so healing.. breath in... breath out




Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Dahlias are just beginning..






Surrounding myself with beauty .....so healing, peace flows, concerns fade up in prayer, grace comes in


Monday, August 5, 2013

Zinnias and the battle of the Japanese Beetles

So far the Zinnias are winning the battle of the beetles. 

I go out each day  to the garden and knock the Japanese Beetles into a bowl of water with dish soap in it. They usually fall as their protection, so it works fairly well just holding a bowl under the leaves and help guide the  little creatures into their water and soap bath. I then leave the bowl out in the garden to ward off other beetles. It seems to work quite well. Crunching the little guys in between my finger tips has become a regular practice too. Although this tends to make most a bit squeamish, my hard heart towards these little imps wins out. Grandpa T. (he was about 80 years old then)  taught me this on potato plants and potato bugs  when I was a teenager. Applying the same techniques with the beetles seems to work very well. 

One year, I got on the band wagon of the traps. They worked exceptionally well for calling in ALL the Japanese Beetles from miles around.  

I do not use them now!

These pests can be very destructive. Don't ignore them. Counter attack! Pay the 8 year old down the street to go out and get 'em. Give the brave kid a nickel for each one squished or in the water bath. Your garden will thank you. 

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Happy August!

Summer is already waning. So much to do... fall planting is on the 'to do list' already.

A load of hay was delivered last week for a raised bale hay garden test plot. Late in the season but I have been known to push the edge of the envelope a bit. More to be delivered for the "low tunnel'for flower growing experiments for fall greenhouse planting.

The site for the sun pit is chosen now to test for drainage there. A few more weddings to create for, studio is still under a bit of construction, simplified floral systems, with fresh displays and inventory redo's.  Should be all  set on the indoor things by end of August.

 Call me with any questions or flower orders. Teemie