Why I Left It All to Become A Flower Farmer

My husband says I live in “my own world’.

He’s not wrong. I just really like it here.

Not too long ago, I was under an immense amount of stress. Our two kids were under five years old, one was very busy, and the other required substantial amounts of extra emotional support. We lived in a crowded town, and I was working two demanding part time jobs while he was working 10-hour late shifts four days a week. We had the dogs, the cats, a home to tend to, church and school activities, family obligations, you name it.

I was completely overwhelmed.

I felt lost. I felt trapped beneath all my responsibilities.

One night, I was up late trying to escape my mental chaos between the pages of an L.M. Montgomery novel. The book was about a little girl who was perfectly content spending her days in a cottage garden daydreaming all day long. It drove her family crazy that their daughter didn’t want to adhere to Victorian pressures by being socially appropriate and dignified all the time. She’d rather be barefoot amongst the flowers, with dirt on her dress and windblown hair.

It hit me that I was that little girl once.

I used to sneak my mother’s gardening catalogs beneath my quilt when the house went dark. I’d spend hours absorbing images of roses, and lilies and tulips under the bright beam of my little flashlight. I’d practice their names and circle the ones I loved with a thick marker, dog-earing pages for future reference. I would get lost in images of lush gardens, picturing the light breeze and butterflies flitting from one gorgeous bloom to the next.

I was the little girl who used to walk into the woods barefoot and just sing at the top of her lungs. All by herself, perfectly content with the moment as it was.

On that lonely night, I realized something. I had a choice in how I wanted my life to look, to feel, to be. I needed to remind myself of who I was, before the chaos snuffed it out.

A few weeks later, my grandmother gave me some money for Christmas, and I bought eight David Austin roses.

Those roses changed everything.

I enjoyed caring for and spending time among the roses so much that I was inspired to plant a small cutting garden the following spring. Now I not only had a physical space to escape to, but I could cut handfuls of these bright, cheerful blooms and bring them into my home. The habit of keeping a jar of fresh flowers on my kitchen table began to transform my mood each day. Even better, my kids begged to go outside and play in the garden daily. We were all happier in the garden.

Then I discovered this book, and a whole new world opened up for me (I seriously couldn't put it down). I spent hours and hours dreaming up the perfect backyard cutting garden, and then, somehow, I made it happen. As my garden grew and I gained more confidence in my skills, I began to bring friends over to show them how our blank suburban yard had transformed into a cottage garden. They couldn’t get me to stop talking about flowers if they tried! Let's be honest, they still can't, lol.

My daughter liked to take bouquets of flowers to the neighbors, and they began to ask if they could buy them from us. So, on Mother’s Day weekend one year, I offered bouquets of roses and other garden favorites to friends and family on social media. Within two hours, every bloom I had was sold. As I delivered the bouquets the following day, I was told over and over about how the flowers made the recipient feel, how they were inspired by them, and how they loved receiving something so beautiful so unexpectantly.

Not only did my love for flowers fill my soul, but it lifted the spirits of other people as well.

Something shifted in me after that weekend.

I saw that flowers have a power that few other things on earth possess. Not only is their beauty captivating, but they connect us to other people, to feelings, to memories.

If I close my eyes, I can still see: - the field of wildflowers on a Colorado hillside, - the daisies in my great-grandmother’s garden, - the flowers my husband sent to my dorm room when we were dating, - the surprise arrangement from a dear friend during a rough season in college, - the sweet flowers from my sister that graced the desk on the first day of a new job, - my wedding bouquet, - the flowers at my grandfather’s funeral, - a huge tropical bloom handed to me on vacation in Mexico, - a pressed flower in a travel journal, - wildflowers from my son.

The joy flowers have given me is deep and moving. It was a revelation to realize the impact they have had on me.

I began to really think about what I wanted to be doing with my life. While I was good at my jobs in the nonprofit sector, I'd spend my days daydreaming about a wilder, more free life, doing something creative and inspiring. I knew that my own personal niche hadn't been discovered yet, but I knew it wasn't where I was currently employed.

In 2018, a family member gifted me with the book The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski, and right then, I decided that flowers had to be a part of our bigger picture.

Fast forward nearly five years later (including lots of hard conversations, sacrifices and big changes) and I can’t believe that we now live in a farmhouse on ten acres, away from town, with a bustling flower farm just steps from my back porch. It’s hard to believe those stressful jobs are a thing of the past, that I get to wake up every day and ‘play’ in my garden. Many days it does feel like a dream. I find challenges, inspiration and hope every day.

I will say of utmost importance, however, that none of the fruits of this dreaming, and thinking and scheming would have been possible without the support of my husband. He was actually the one who suggested that I take the leap into making a living off of flowers, yet I know it hasn't been easy for him to go from two steady incomes to mostly one as we build the business. While I have been discovering new life opportunities for us, he has been working VERY hard to keep our family finances and stability in check, while also pitching in on the farm on his days off. I will forever be grateful for how he loves me and our family in this way.

It's also been good to see the changes in our family. I don't work in the city anymore, so I no longer miss important appointments, recitals and kids' activities. I can set my own schedule. I don't have to rely on a weekly sitter anymore. I can have a lunch date with my husband any time I want. We have more freedom to plan getaways and spur of the moment plans. We have so much more time together.

Our kids are watching something beautiful unfurl right before their eyes and they get to be wild and free in the country. They see their parents working purposefully towards something big. The work of building a business is also bringing my husband and I much closer together. He is creative and amazing at building things, I dream and plan and garden. It has given us a partnership that I truly treasure.

Truthfully, farming is a ton of work, (goodbye clean house, a predictable income and sleeping in) but it is transformative work that speaks to my soul. Aside from my own enjoyment of it, domestic flower farming is having a massive positive impact on the global environment and domestic economies (I will get into that in a later post). There is a movement of American farmers confidently making a new space in the domestic floral industry that is both fascinating and inspiring. Read more about it in the Slow Flowers Manifesto.

It’s no small thing to discover a new purpose in life, or to get a second chance to turn things around. As we head into our third year of farming, I’m just enjoying the process of trying to figure out where flowers fit into it all.

There are always unknowns in life, about where it will take you next. But so much of our life is dependent upon how we choose to live and what we choose to give importance to. I wanted freedom to nurture and explore new possibilities. I needed a change of pace for our family. I needed to remember what made me feel alive. I needed to get out of the office and breathe fresh air. I needed something that brings value and hope into this crazy, busy world.

I’m not sure where this journey will lead me, but you will likely find me in a garden or among flowers of some kind, nurturing the little girl who found freedom and peace, and inspiration in a world of her creation.

Thank you for choosing to join our family on this grand adventure, as we grow something beautiful, meaningful and good. If we haven't met yet, we are Sara and Teddy Wilson and we own Oklahoma Cut Flower Company in Norman, Oklahoma. We are a micro-farm that grows specialty cut flowers to educate and inspire our local flower-loving community. We are members of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers.

You can learn more about us and join our adventures by subscribing to our email list and following us on Instagram and Facebook.

This post contains affiliate links, of which I may receive a small commission.

Subscribe to our email list!