I Thought I Wanted a Flower Farm
(But, What I Really Wanted Was a Flower Garden)

Have you ever chased a dream, only to realize that it wasn’t quite what you had envisioned? Or that maybe… you never really knew what the dream was to begin with? You just knew how to start, without a plan.

That’s what happened to me.

I’m sharing my flower garden story because maybe you’re in a season of deciding what to plant and what to build. Maybe you’re sorting through a dozen beautiful ideas, trying to find clarity.  Unsure which ones are worth your time and heart. I’ve been there. In many ways, I’m still there.

This is where our story began.

We live on nine acres, and a portion of our land is shared with our neighbor’s cows. It’s been a beautiful arrangement that benefits both of us and we love having the cows.  I find them peaceful to watch and having them on our land slows us down.  We notice nature and what is happening around us.  Even though we enjoy the cows we also started wondering what else we could do with our land. That’s when the idea of a flower farm came up.

The vision was appealing: rows of flowers, maybe a small business, something beautiful and productive. We talked about it, and I even wrote a blog post exploring the possibility. It felt like a natural next step.  But as we sat with the dream, we began to understand the commitment behind it.

My husband has a full-time career, and flower farming isn’t something you can do halfway. It’s a lifestyle that requires showing up every day, working the fields, managing the weather, harvesting on schedule, and serving customers. The idea of being tied to the land for that long during the growing season didn’t sit right with us at this point in our life.

So we paused the idea, but I was already looking at flower farmers and hooked on their flowers.  As a flower photographer I was dreaming of photographing big bundles of blooms.

So we decided to build three raised beds behind our house and direct sow zinnia seeds. No big plan, just curiosity. What bloomed was magic. Butterflies, bees, and color everywhere. It was simple and soul-filling.

However, we still didn’t realize what we were creating. We just knew we wanted to grow lots of flowers. Our ideas were everywhere. It took growing and failing to begin to understand what would work for us and for our land, our rhythm, and our life.

It’s an emotional thing, growing this many flowers. You’re not just tending to seeds or soil, you’re tending to a vision. And that vision doesn’t always come all at once. Ours unfolded slowly, and we’re still learning.

This is the story of how three raised beds of zinnias changed everything and why it took us years to understand our why. It’s an honest look at choosing a flower garden over a farm, and the emotional pull behind growing something that feels like home.

Part 2 of my flower story

kindly, xo

Jane