After graduating from business school in Louisiana, I decided to make the move to Gunnison, Colorado although I had never visited and had no idea what to expect. While in college, I started managing farmer’s markets and getting involved with local food, and I wanted to continue that work in Colorado. After spending a year working for a local food nonprofit organization, I started vegetable farming at Iola Valley Farm, and I spent three seasons farming vegetables before I decided to grow a “few flowers” for fun. That season, I grew two hoophouses worth of flowers and sold bouquets at the CB Thursday market.

I fell in love with the challenge of growing flowers at 8,000+ feet in zone 3. And I fell in love with the versatility of flowers. I learned there are edible, medicinal, pollinator-favorites, and just all-around gorgeous flowers. I also learned that bees sleep in the flower petals and that I could be inches away from happy hummingbirds and sphinx moths. Growing flowers isn’t all roses (pun intended), but the rewards are unparalleled and motivate me to provide beyond-organic flowers to the community that I love.

When doing research for Sundrop, I learned about the disastrous effects most flower farming has on our already rapidly-declining climate. For example, did you know that transporting flowers thousands of miles in refrigerated cargo jets, using a variety of harmful chemicals, such as herbicides and pesticides, and producing flowers out of season through harmful heating methods produces large amounts of CO2? And did you also know that child labor is frequently used in countries where most of the United States’ flowers are produced, such as Brazil and Kenya? Wages are generally far below a living wage, and working conditions can be harmful, especially when it comes to poisoning workers with glyphosate and other herbicides/pesticides. Even flowers grown in states such as Arizona can contribute to climate change and drought by using a copious amount of water and poisonous chemicals to force roses to grow in uninhabitable environments.

I am motivated to grow all of my flowers completely organically, as well as to grow with regenerative soil practices. I rent space from Iola Valley Farm who raises sheep and chickens, so I am able to use organic compost and animal rotation in my growing practices. I do not use any chemical fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides, and I attempt to conserve water by using homemade drip lines. Although I do most of the work myself, any person that assists me is paid a living wage. I extend my growing season with hoophouses, thermal mass heat, frost cloth, and a limited amount of propane, and I do not grow flowers in the winter or outside of their natural season to limit my carbon footprint as much as possible.

Flowers are with us in many of our most important moments-weddings, funerals, birthdays. They are a gift of love and care, and I want to provide my community with an alternative to conventionally-grown flowers, so that on our most important days we can be surrounded with earth-friendly flowers.