Reflection: Emerging from Winter Part 1
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Almost three years ago to the day I had this idea for a course...to teach people how to grow beautiful flowers using the best organic methods. To create a rich, abundant garden with minimal effort and stress. That summer and fall I created the course - we shot video and photos in the garden and put everything together into a step by step guide. In the spring of 2016 I launched the course. It was both nerve-wracking and exhilarating. Bringing something like this into the world, you wonder - will anyone like it? who do I think I am to do this? will it be valuable?
One of the first people to reach out with words of support was Nicole from Soil and Stem. I'm sure like many of you reading this, I was a huge fan of her stunning, seemingly effortless and natural arrangements. Nicole became a student of mine and we started talking about a way to get together. Then last spring we decided to make it happen.
In April of this year, Nicole and I hosted Emerging from Winter, a gardening and design workshop exploring the beauty of the spring cutting garden. This was a really special workshop for me. Having Nicole here was amazing. As you'll see in the next post, she expertly guided us in creating incredible arrangements. But it was also my first time hosting a workshop using flowers exclusively grown in Victoria, including flowers from Busy Bee Farm and Florals, Cartref Gardens and Ninebark Farm (and my garden).
3 years ago, this wouldn't have been possible. One of the absolute best things about creating the Garden to Vase course and being part of the community of amazing growers here is seeing how the industry is evolving (in the best possible way!).
Below is a taste of our time together, and Nicole's incredible demo arrangement. We spent the morning in the garden, exploring different aspects of growing a cutting garden. The afternoon was spent playing in the studio with Nicole. Stay tuned for Part 2 where I'll share some of the beauty our talented students created ;)
With huge gratitude to some special collaborators including Erin from A Fox in the Flowers, Lyndsey from Charlotte and the Quail and Kelly from Kelly Brown Photography.
All images by Kelly Brown
