Precious. When I search for the word that best describes the new lens that I see the world through after the events of the last year this is it. Everything feels very, very precious. I know I am not unique; millions of others around the world have changed their view and vision of their lives and surrounds. For me this feeling is profound and spiritual – every little thing, down to the tiniest detail feels cherished, precious.
One year ago, awaking full of terror, full of fear of death and dying, of sickness and worry, my place of solace each morning as the dawn broke was to walk under the rose arbor and into my garden. Every single morning for several months I would watch as each leaf unfurled in the forsythia, each rose bud began to show color, the lilacs begin pushing out their heady fragrance, the mourning doves cooing in the fig tree, trying to breath in deeply the smells and sounds of each precious being. I began to fill with gratitude and awe and realize my small place in this vast and complex world. How small a piece of it I was! And yet how vital it was for me to continue to bring good food and flowers to others not so fortunate to have this garden. I shall never be the same after those dewy mornings and I live in a new kind of gratitude and humility after experiencing those moments.
And so it is with much gratitude that I find myself writing my annual flower article to you, our precious customers and readers. Yes, a year has passed that was so full of flowers – a year that was incredibly abundant and beautiful. A year when each flower seemed to ooze color and vibrancy that I had never seen before. It was a year when we noticed everything more clearly, the bees more abundant than ever on the scabiosas, the bumblebees swarming on the bachelor buttons. Never had we had such glorious snapdragons, thousands of bunches pouring in from the field. I believe these flowers sang to you as well. Our demand for flowers was huge, people gulping in their fragrance and beauty on their tables, so in need of hope and love in a world torn apart. We were glad each day to picture them on your tables, walking them home from the markets, weeping at their beauty and comfort as we did.
And now, once again by the magic this natural world has created over millions of years, the lilacs are pushing out their soft sleepy heads on their green lush bushes, the roses are beginning to bud and the fields are once more, full of flowers to cut for you. This article usually includes a brief annual flower weather report so I must attend to that: Dry is the operative word as most of you know. We have been irrigating our fields since January with only 4.75 inches of rain having fallen since October, the beginning of our precipitation year. “Normal” rainfall for us here in the Capay Valley is 23 inches – last year was a mere 9 inches, so yes… we are in a drought that does not look to be changing from a Miracle March. Despite this lack, the flowers are pushing the boundaries of early, though perhaps it is the new normal. Snapdragons are already showing color in this warmth and godetias are already budding. Get ready they are calling out to us! We are coming!
Our many acres of flowers are a collaborative effort from our amazing and long-standing Flower Crew -Isabel, Antolina, Maria, Sonia, Fidi and Hannah. Berta has recently joined us for some added new energy. They plant, weed, pick and bunch thousands of bouquets each year and it is done with loving and caring hands. They are each artists in their own right – designing mixed bouquets and wreaths as the seasons progress. We are filled with such love and gratitude for their work each day. If you enjoy our flowers please stop and say a prayer of thanks to them and their well-being. They worked during last year’s challenges with such grace and patience, to bring joy and color into your lives. Let us all continue to feel the preciousness of this life and the wonders that unfold each day. It is hard to forget with a flower in hand.
Please join our flower CSA! We are excited to share these flower gifts with you and are overjoyed to offer a beautiful bunch each week to be dropped off at your homes or CSA sites. We have planted nearly a hundred varieties of flowers for the year so that we can include a different mix each week of the flower season (April 1 through September 30).
— Dru Rivers
