It feels like it has been a long winter! And this coming from a gal who spent the first many years of her life in Vermont where there are snow days into April! Even though last year we had more rain in inches than this year, it seems like there have been many more cloudy, cold days. Maybe my bones are just getting older – after all I have been writing this “Flower Time Letter” for over 30 years and my bones ARE getting up there in age. Even as I write, the blizzards in the Sierras are blowing with gale forces confirming my instinct of a longish winter.
As the saying goes (and will go on for forever I hope) in California “March showers bring April flowers.” This means flowers a month earlier than most places in the country, so we should all count our blessings! Here at Full Belly Farm I am constantly amazed at the resilience of our flower fields. Despite months of rain, clouds, and frost, the beds of larkspur, Bells of Ireland, calendula, godetia and snapdragons are roaring to life, getting ready to belt out their annual chorus of color. It is such a comfort to know that nature will do her magic – sometimes in spite of all the human meddling. We are eagerly awaiting that color riot in just a few short weeks.
The beds we will soon be picking from were planted in late October, which seems like another lifetime ago; the days were long and warm and the flowers required frequent irrigations and help with the heat. Then the rain came and these flowers have kept their growing spirit up, slowly pulling through all this messy, wintery weather.
We began the flowers as a CSA “add on” many years ago. It has been such a delight that many of you are able to experience the farm from a new and different perspective through our flowers. The soul and spirit of what we are trying to do as a farm, a community-driven place with you as our community of eaters, somehow seems more poignant when our flowers grace your homes and tables as well.
You may join in the flower fun and subscribe to our flower CSA for the whole season (April 1st through September 30th) or on a week to week basis if you prefer. See below for details on pricing and scheduling. You will be guaranteed a beautiful certified organic flower bouquet each week that follows the seasonality of the flower fields. Some weeks will be a mixed bouquet of two or more varieties, other weeks will be a single variety of flowers. Spring bouquets will be a mix of bulbs, sweet Williams, snapdragons, delphiniums and more. The summer bouquets move into the tender annuals like zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers, cosmos, cockscombs and many others too numerous to list here.
We hope that you are as excited as we are about the rapidly approaching start to our flower season!
Best to you all,
Dru Rivers
