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Cutflowers For Sale!
To arrange a pick-up or tour with cutting and arranging as part of the package, email sballer@lobatek.com
A Day In The Life Of A Cut Flower Vendor
"In an orchard, there should be enough to eat, enough to lay up, enough to be stolen, and enough to rot on the ground." -- James Boswell At Van Dyke Zinnias, every day starts early. The Pups, one black and one yellow Lab/Golden Retriever mix, make sure everyone is awake and out of bed by 5:30! They've not learned to distinguish weekend from weekday. They have their Cheerios or Fruitios with the owners and begin begging to go for a walk through the back 15 acres of tall grasses and mown pathways, hoping to "hunt 'em up" a rabbit, pheasant, wild turkey, or grouse. The matronly hound dog stays in her bed until the excitement dies down in the kitchen. She figures by the age of 12, she deserves to sleep as late as she wants...Garden Zen
Farmers' Market space in Howell, Michigan, summer of 1999. Cut flower bouquets for the Market. Preparations for Farmers Market actually begin late Saturday afternoon. No matter the temperature or weather, the old red wheelbarrow, one of the first garden tools purchased some 30 summers ago, and five-gallon buckets of water and cut flower preservative are rolled out into the rows of Zinnias, Cleome, Cosmos, Calendulas, Snapdragons, Bachelor Buttons, Baby's Breath, Celosia, Indian Blanket, Mexican Hat, Wildflowers, and mixed Sunflowers! Now begins the artful work of selecting which flowers will become Van Dyke Zinnia Farm seed stock and which shall be on their way to the bustling Farmers' Market in historic downtown Howell, Michigan, held every Sunday morning from May through October. The process of preparing the solution in the buckets and then carefully moving up and down the rows, selecting just the right flowers for market, takes almost two full hours. Add another two hours for prepping and arranging the selected flowers into buckets that will make sorting and arranging the bouquets fast and easy at the market, and Saturday afternoon is about spent! Sometimes, an occasional customer will pull into the driveway and get out with a bucket, hoping to buy cut flowers. At $25 for a very full 5-gallon bucket, they leave happy. The flowers may be prepared ahead of time if the customer calls before coming. It makes the day's work a little longer but more pleasurable; we are proud to show the Farm to visitors. Private garden tours are sometimes arranged during Farmers' Market. They occur evenings or on the weekend. Nothing fancy. Just walking and sipping... all in all, we spend a lot of time in the Garden, preparing the soil and planting in the spring; weeding, watering, cutting, and picking in summer; and harvesting in the fall. Garden Zen
During cut flower processing, all the leaves are stripped off the stems except the top few. The flowers are immediately plunged into the water after uprooting or cutting, the solution having been heated by the sun so it is very warm to touch. By now, a slice of watermelon is in order if the day's particularly warm. Iced tea sits alongside the buckets of flowers in the now muddy bottom of the wheelbarrow. Everything gets dirty. I sweat and swat at the sweat-bees that sting mercilessly as the sun beats down on the fields. My husband is mowing nearby; the dogs lie lazily on the porch under the big canvas umbrella. Care must be taken not to disturb the many bumble and honey bees flitting from flower to flower, doing the important work of pollinating each flower that will turn into VDZ seed. It's quiet in the fields, except for the country music from a radio as our son washes his Chevy truck back behind the barn. Swallowtails and monarchs, yellow moths and grasshoppers, ladybugs and beetles, bluebirds, hummingbirds, and woodpeckers -- and the Flowers -- all are our companions. Garden Zen Finally, the wheelbarrow is pushed to a shady spot out by the truck that will haul the flowers and baskets of seeds to the market the next morning. A cool shower is in order. Suppertime is at hand. Sometimes the truck is packed the night before; sometimes not, if rain threatens to cancel the market. The days' work has made us weary. (Who has trouble sleeping?) After sitting on the porch or watching TV awhile, we fall asleep where we sit.... Garden Zen It's Sunday morning -- Market Day! The dogs have had their breakfast and clamor for their walk. My friend of many years arrives by 8 o'clock for the drive to Howell. She joins me to keep company and to help when a crowd surrounds our table. We arrive at the market and immediately don our big floppy-brimmed hats! It's the only shade we'll have through the noon hour. With the other vendors, we begin setting up the tables to sell our flowers and seeds. Bonnie, the Market Manager, always stops by to offer shopping bags and a smile - "Bonnie" is a fit name for her! We settle into a comfortable rhythm as we begin making the bouquets from each long, graceful stem, Nature's colorful artwork gracing each top! I feel especially privileged and blessed to have this work to do. I am always amazed and fortified by the entrepreneurial spirit of each and every vendor! I think to myself, "These markets are as old as agriculture itself, and we're now a part of that long history!" It's how I prepare myself for the morning of meeting and greeting each customer who comes to our table...."Hi! How are ya?! Fine morning! Are you looking for anything in particular? We sell ZINNIAS! Wonderful zinnias at the Farm!....." Garden Zen
Customers ask for "The Zinnia Lady's booth." VDZ craft show table at the Dansville School Holiday Bazaar with seeds for sale, December '99. "The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose." -- Heda Bijar
"Time is a miracle and the right to live is a gift. Celebrate being alive." -- Flavia Weedn "Faith is a hand to hold when we lose our way." -- Flavia Weedn
Subscribe or Unsubscribe HERE to our * News Beams * from the Farm!From time to time, we will offer web-only specials and publish short stories about the Farm Dogs or the grandkids, and inspirations from life on the Farm in mid-Michigan, the American heartland. Seasonally, we will write to help Gardeners grow beautiful Zinnias, learn how to make a stunning bouquet, or how to collect precious seed when harvest is here. Let us know if you would like to receive them. We have moved our web to a new server and resized all photos for faster load times. As we approach another winter, I hope you visit us often to see our pretty pictures and read about the simple things we love most here. Thanks for being a customer! -Sharon Baller, President"To see life's passages through the eyes of your heart is to know that all is happening exactly as it was meant to." -- Flavia Weedn |
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