I first began working on farms as a teenager and my roots are in organic vegetable farming. After my days of prepping tray upon tray of microgreens, washing carrots, and harvesting arugula, I’d often make a bouquet of whatever I could find around the farm to brighten my home. Dried flowers were strung up from wall to wall in my bedroom, my sheets were floral print, I’d paint blossoms in acrylic paint all over my walls, and cut outs of flowers from botanical books and magazines were often strewn on my desk.
I was enamored by flowers and figured I could grow up to be someone who lived inside one; I hoped I’d ride a bumble bee to work.
Though I remained human sized in the years that followed, and reluctantly bid adieu to my dreams of bee-back riding, I did find work on a flower farm/studio where I learned from a skilled designer to create bouquets, wreaths, and miniature floral worlds. A bouquet is a snapshot of a garden, and I quickly realised I wanted to have one of my very own.
The studio I was designing at was high-end, and my background of travelling and farming often had me feeling out of place. I knew that when my garden came to be, I wanted to share more of the soil-and-secateurs side of local floristry. I didn’t think it all needed to be tied up with a neat bow.
Boots is an homage to the dirt that lives on knees and under fingernails and doesn’t budge until the flower season is over; to early mornings racing to harvest before the sun tires out the stems of snapdragons. It’s a nod to the many, many socks whose toes I’ve worn through on long harvest days, and the boots that hold it all together.
Buying local, honest flowers means that every flower in the vase has been watched intently and cheered on since seed. There is love and an earnest appreciation that is as tangible as the petals themselves. Thankyou for supporting me in my garden.
