Well hello, flower friend! I’m excited to introduce you to our newest creation, behind the blooms. This is a new space for us to share more about what’s happening behind the scenes in our floral studio and introduce you to the people and the stories behind what we do. Here you’ll find more long-form content that extends beyond just what’s available in our shop; this is a place for us to share our experiences and our thoughts about what makes our local-first approach so special, the way flowers impact the community around us, and how we experience flowers in our own lives. In this first edition, we’re sharing some tales directly from two of our beloved flower farmers about what it takes to grow beautiful things amidst a tough winter (wait until you read what some of our friends had to do to make sure their flowers made it to us!). We’re continually inspired by how hard our growers work to make sure we have beautiful materials to work with, and how they persevere through the toughest growing challenges. There are so many un-glamorous things that have to happen behind the scenes before we can get our stunning arrangements to you… this is just a glimpse at it! I hope you enjoy this first behind-the-scenes look, and look forward to sharing lots more with you in future editions!
xx, Amber
Butterbee Farm
On harvesting flowers for delivery during a blizzard
“We live in a very cold climate right around the Pennsylvania line called the Hereford Zone, which is known for getting hit hard by winter storms. When we moved to the farm three years ago, we weren’t exactly sure what these storms would be like, but it truly was bonkers when we got that snow storm. We got almost a foot of snow and more drifting on our farm access road.
Our farm road is a quarter mile long. We have a tractor, so we can plow to some extent, but because it was such heavy snow and very icy, it turned out after the storm that we could not drive a car up there. We couldn’t even really walk up there because the snow had become so icy that it was really slippery.
Thankfully, my parents (who live nearby on the farm) happen to have snow shoes, so I borrowed them. I got a sled from their house - my childhood sled! I brought that over to the barn with my snow shoes and up the driveway. We have this cage that’s big enough to put a puppy in, so it was like, all right, this is what we will do because it was too cold to bring the anemones outside… they would freeze. So I put the buckets of anemones in the cage, wrapped the cage with a blanket, and then I put that whole thing on the sled, and then I put my snow shoes on. And I pulled that whole contraption a quarter mile down the access road; it was very treacherous. The cage kept slipping off the sled and there was a lot of cursing, but the flowers made it in one piece, and they didn’t freeze.”
The puppy-sized cage that saved the day…
“It was not my favorite delivery day, but the most important thing is that our customers get the flowers we told them we would have. It’s partially because we want to be good on our word and to be known as reliable and consistent, but then it’s also just the idea that these gorgeous flowers wouldn’t make their way into the world… It would just break my heart. I want people to have our flowers, and Little Acre is the way that we make that happen. We get them to you, you get them to the people. And that’s why we made it work. I would not like to do it again, but I will if we have to!” — Laura Beth Resnick, Owner and Snow Shoe Harvester Extraordinaire, Butterbee Farm
Winters Farm Florals
Why growing in the winter is special
“In the depths of an ice-covered winter, it is hard to imagine anything growing at all – especially anything as delicate and beautiful as fluffy pastel ranunculus, striking black-centered anemone, or tissue-paper poppies. It turns out, however, that winter is their preferred season – as long as it’s winter outside, and not inside.
My favorite part about winter growing is the harsh juxtaposition between the cold, unforgiving conditions of January and February, and the intoxicating scents and colors to be found within the cozy protection of the greenhouse beds. There is a challenge so steep in winter growing that leads to incredible reward, and nothing feels more accomplished than harvesting armloads full of fragrant stock in a 65-degree greenhouse while the wind is whipping outside and the ground is frozen and lifeless.
Our florists and their customers are so hungry for local blooms during these bleak and scarce winter months, and it is a beautiful moment in the dead of winter when demand outpaces supply and every stem goes flying out the door.
On the challenges of winter growing
“After painting a rosy picture of the beauty of winter growing, let me be clear: winter growing is not for the faint of heart. Winter growing comes with a set of challenges risky enough to put your entire crop on the line. One year, it’s white mold wiping out an entire greenhouse, and you come back the next winter with an arsenal of preventative solutions only to find out that there is no white mold but armies of green aphids haunting every last stem of your anemone crop.
This year, in addition to the mold and the mites and the Pythium, one of our biggest challenges was the crazy, unpredictable winter weather. It has been about 10 years since our last true blast of winter here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and since this is my 7th season growing, I did not have a lot of experience with heavy snowfall in the winter. However, there are lots of anecdotal horror stories in the growing world about heavy snow loads causing greenhouse collapse.
