Every good flower farm needs a germinator. Read and find out about mine!

On many recent occasions, I’ve been asked the question “How/why did you start your flower farm?” And the answer goes something like this…

Like any happily married couple, at numerous times in our marriage, we’ve sought to steal away for a long weekend. One perk to that is drive time.  Fortunately Kevin and I are best friends.  Uninterrupted time together makes for terrific conversation and connection. It was one such weekend, on a five-ish hour drive home from a wonderful weekend in Holland, Michigan, that Kevin asked the question “What is a dream you would love to make a reality?”

After a minute of deliberation on whether to really bare my soul or not, I went for it. “I’d love to start a little cut flower farm.” After dropping that little torpedo and seeing no fallout, I continued on to explain how I had been following a number of such farms, some in Iowa and the Midwest. For months I’d stalk their Insta Stories and take pictures of their bouquets. I watched how their love of flowers and sharing them fostered their connections with people and their joy of tending the soil. Secretly I had wondered and prayed, “Would we be able to do that?”

Then, I waited, and I watched.  Within 15 seconds he replied, “That is a great idea. Let’s do it!” From that point on, the details all kind of jumble together. One thing about my Kevin, he gets things done. He makes things happen! The rest of that trip was spent discussing details and laying out plans.  That trip, in the fall of 2021, was the beginning, the germination of my dream, the Gardens at Whitmer Woods.

Growing a business, let alone a cut-flower farm doesn’t happen in a flash. There is a lot of working, then waiting, watching and even wondering. I don’t know about you, but for me, the waiting is the hardest. Sometimes it can be days I will go look at that same dirt and seemingly no change. Yet, the wonder is how it can all change in an instant. When conditions are right, germination happens. Boom, it’s GO time. It is such a miracle right before our eyes. With every flower is a glimpse of its Maker. In that same way, I pray that my life is a mirror of my Maker. 

Ephesians 3:14-21 is a passage and prayer that is forever on my lips. I encourage you to check it out. It is a gardener’s passage as the writer talks about …”being rooted and grounded…to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth and the love of Christ…to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine…”

Whether it is in the miracle of my husband (eHarmony, Spring 2008), the wonder of a little person learning to read, or the miracle of a perennial perking up from a winter’s slumber, He is in the details. Psalm 37:23 says “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” I challenge you to give Him the details. Give Him your dreams, your disappointments, and your delights. He wants to know them all, and He will render you speechless as you gain a glimpse of all He is not only able to do but all that He WILL do. God is the ultimate germinator, He wants to be in your details, and nothing is too hard for him.