Discovering Dried Flowers: An Everlasting Dream Come True
There are no true endings, only everlasting beginnings.
– Dieter F. Uchtdorf
This past weekend, Bryan and I attended a dried flower wreath making workshop at Full Belly Farm — the farm of my childhood and the farm that inspired me to grow flowers in the first place. We had so much fun and learned so much!
From left: Farmer-Florists Dru & Hannah of Fully Belly Farm and Flowerville Farm’s Diana & Bryan
The workshop was hosted by Dru Rivers, who has been growing organic flowers for 35+ years, and her daughter Hannah, who has been making wreaths with her mother since she was 3 years old. They taught us how to design and put together a dried flower wreath, the Full Belly Farm way. Dru is a pioneer in the industry and, while I’ve known her most of my life, learning about flowers from her was awe-inspiring.
Dru shared how she started growing flowers over 35 years ago. How, as a woman in farming and mother of young children who wasn’t particularly excited by tomatoes, she needed something to help her find her own identity on the farm, and she found it in flowers.
As I listened to her story, I felt like it was me talking. My story is so similar. After my kids were born and required so much of my attention, I too felt like I needed to find my identity. When we decided to start farming, I knew I wanted to grow flowers to dry so I could make dried flower wreaths like the ones at Fully Belly Farm (growing tomatoes doesn’t really excite me either).
What I didn’t know was that starting this flower farm would be how I’d find my purpose.
Dried flowers, also called everlastings, symbolize longevity and immortality. I love that drying flowers is a way to preserve and enjoy the beauty of the garden long after the garden has bloomed.
With this in mind, I planned our cutting garden to include many varieties that are both beautiful in the vase and great for drying and, over the course of the year, dried hundreds of flowers!
At the beginning of this year, I started my first flower seeds and on October 1st, I completed my first dried flower wreath with flowers that I grew and dried myself. I will cherish this wreath (pictured below) as a reminder of our first year growing flowers — my everlasting dream come true!
We have lots of dried flowers and will be making more wreaths that will be available in our Flower Shop in the coming weeks.
