Happily Sitting on the sidelines on Valentine's Day: a farmer-florist's approach
February is here, and love is in the air. Do you feel it?
We are less than a week away from Valentine’s Day!
Admittedly, I enjoy Valentine’s Day: the cheesy little cards and tiny sweet treats. February can be so blah around here. Valentine’s Day is like a pit stop until the excitement of spring; at least, that’s how I always look at it.
In the dead of winter, Valentine’s Day brings color and a reminder to show and tell those dear to you that they are unique and loved. A day for the loved ones in our lives to dote on each other for a minute; I think it’s refreshing! After the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons are about community, family, and gatherings, followed by January, which is about self-care, Valentine’s Day is a nice balance between both. Buying yourself chocolate-dipped strawberries is self-care, though (you’re welcome; I just gave you the permission you were seeking!).
My mother-in-law has shared stories of each Valentine’s Day being given a cute handwritten card from her father that always came with a small posy of violas purchased from a local grower. I have always found that so incredibly endearing. Having two little girls of our own, Graham has always done something for them, carrying such a precious tradition.
I have been puzzling over some things about this holiday and its traditions, though: where did Valentine’s Day come from? Why is the biggest day for the cut flower industry in the dead of winter? How did gifting flowers become such an integral part of Valentine’s Day? Is this a truly sustainable practice?
I have been going down the rabbit hole on this. I didn’t foresee it being so dark and surrounded by legend.
The History of Valentine’s Day
I had questions but the answers to those questions I wasn’t quite prepared for. I figured maybe something with Cupid being involved. You know like the awkward character from Disney’s Hercules kind of guy. Or perhaps, big business simply seeing an opportunity to make sales after the tide of Christmas has settled and before Easter sales.
In an effort to learn more about this holiday, I began playing a History Channel episode on YouTube on the history of Valentine’s Day… with my daughter… um… where was the warning label on that?
So it turns out, in case you didn’t know because I didn’t know, Valentine’s Day is kind of scandalous and well, it wasn’t Valentine’s Day for centuries. After reading the origin, I do in fact greatly appreciate our modern traditions surrounding the holiday!
Long before Valentine’s Day was a day in celebration of romance, it was a three day festival of sorts that involved wolf deities and skinned goats with their flesh used as whips women and random names drawn that essentially assigned you a “mate” all in the name of: fertility, protection from evil, purification and productivity.
Um… that’s a super dark twist!
This festival was called Lupercalia and was common in the Mediterranean area, Greece and Italy and ran February 13-15th. Hard pass for me!
Moving on from that part and we move to St. Valentine. There is quite a bit of mystique that surrounds this character.
Once Greece and Italy became a “Christian nation” the whole Lupercalia thing was like this dirty-not-so-secret that they were desperate to get rid of. It simply was not good for their image. Pope Gelasius I was the guy that banned the festival. The problem was… the people did not want to let go of their deep rooted traditions (I guess being whipped by goat pieces is enticing!).
Enter Saint Valentine who conveniently was beheaded February 14th, what an opportunity! Perhaps this is where the whole legend comes in surrounding this guy. How the story goes is that at the time of Valentine, men in the military were outlawed from getting married. They needed to focus on you know, war and gore stuff. Well, Valentine was kind of a rebel. He was secretly marrying couples who wished to be wed and eventually was caught and sentenced to death. This is more where that whole legend thing comes in… supposedly not only did he fall in love with the his jailer’s daughter but even healed her blindness. On the day of his execution he wrote her one last note ending it: “From your Valentine.” There’s another legend surrounding this guy where he also used to sneak gold coins to young girls through their windows so they would have a dowry and be able to get married. St. Valentine sure seems like the first generation of match.com!
The fact that St. Valentine was martyred on February 14th was perfect timing for the Catholic Church. This is when they were able to “christianize” Lupercalia. Pope Gelasius I declared February 14th as “St. Valentine’s Day.” Now, instead of drawing names of your “mate” for the festival, you drew a name of a Saint to pray to. Pretty slick I must say!
Over the centuries as minds forgot about saints and wolf dieties, beauty and romance seemed to replace them. A holiday that left forgotten over the years all of sudden was brought back to life but this time with sweet treats and those adorable Valentine’s with amazing puns and poems written in them. The version of Valentine’s Day that we all are familiar with and have a new appreciation for after reading this short history on the holiday.
Okay, okay so I had some of my questions answered but what about the whole flower thing?
It goes back to a time in the early 1900s when nosegays were all the rage and you sent super-secret-not-so-secret messages to someone through the language of flowers. According to Kate Greenway’s The Language of Flowers a “rose” meant love. Here is where we circle back to some Greek mythology where red roses in particular are given because of the Greek goddess Venus who was also believed by Romans to be Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Now, I’m not an expert on the complexities of the Greek mythology and just going off what the internet is saying. Aphrodite has many different symbols to represent her, including roses. Now we’re finally getting back to the chubby baby Cupid guy who is Venus’s son. I don’t think he was portrayed as cute and chubby until the whole Valentine’s Day card thing though…but the color that represented him was red and he’s the god of “desire” other articles state more romantically as just love. So, red roses are the most popular flower to give to your Valentine thanks to the Victorian era.
There are tons of different articles that have differing opinions on the whole flower thing, nonetheless the tradition seems to be here to stay but is it a sustainable practice?
Happily Sitting on the Sideline
In our field, we are seeing the subtle stirrings of spring being right around the corner. Tiny green sprouts peeking from the earth, a greenhouse filling up with plant babies. As I lurk over over the minuscule seedlings, knowing the beauty and magic that in time they will soon release: I am still amazed each year, after seven years. The amazement I don’t think will ever cease. When the growing patch comes to life and brings in life in just a couple more months…
The bumbling bumble bees, who I look at like a golden retriever of the bee world. They are kind of dopey and lovable as they nestle their big bee butts into the folds of a snapdragon. Though, you must step aside for them, they don’t seem to be able to navigate going around obstacles (or perhaps unwilling to?). The tiny native bees that love all the ammi, you miss them unless you are paying attention because they are that small. The crazy neon looking bees known as sweat bees and of course honey bees who I’m sure are visiting from a nearby beekeeper’s yard. During summer, if you are still harvesting out in the field by 10am it’s like pollinator commuter hour! Boy, do they give a little bzzz when they don’t want to let go of a flower!
The ladybirds, or as you know them ladybugs, who come to cleanup the aphids that later in spring inevitably come to the ranunculus and anemones as they get tired of the season. We’ve never had to release ladybirds in our field. From the very first year, they came to us and generation after generation have stayed. We even get these tiny ladybirds that we needed to bust out the macro lens to be able to identify! They come on in June and stay working, they seem to enjoy thrips because those pesky critters seem to disappear once the little ladybirds come in.
The various birds from quail, blue jays and robins who are the hunt for seeded orach and delicious worms. Our favorite is this petite hawk who we have named “Little Ripper.” Oh he’s my favorite! Little Ripper’s favorite pass time is to fly low and rip in between us and our neighbor as we chat across the fence. It appears that Little Ripper has a sense of humor! Otherwise, he’s just happy flying above until he finds a tasty mouse to munch on!
Late last summer into early fall, our field was even visited by a bear cub. A cute and sad story, sad in that all the fires last year pushed the bears this far out but cute that he found raspberries to nibble on. The only evidence was a bent fence, some broken dahlias plants and a mashed up pile of raspberries. Now, our youngest daughter did not find that as amusing as we did, since she waited all summer for those raspberries and the bear cub hardly left any to share.
As I wait for spring, I think of the crisp early morning air as we harvest stem after stem for our beloved subscription members, brides and florists. How the growing patch glows as the sun sets after a long summer day. The heat gets exhausting but there’s something about that sunset that is recharging and inspirational. It brings on the moment of thought, despite the grit and sweat in unmentionable places… the thought that we get to do this. We get to grow pretty flowers and delicious vegetables while hanging out with nature.
All of these memories and anticipation of the season to come is what whirls in my mind and in my heart as I loom over the seedlings.
I appreciate the calm, I enjoy the calm… that calm before the storm. Not that flower farming is dark and stormy but it requires a different pace once the flowers begin to bloom.
At this moment, the cut flower industry is beginning to really buzz as the biggest day of the year for cut flower sales is less than a week away. Back when Sierra Flower Farm was only an idea swirling inside my head, I quickly realized that Valentine’s Day was a fork in the road and I was going to have to make a choice. Was I going to build a business based off sustainability and work with in the confines of the seasonal options? Or, was I going to have my cake and eat it too: having product to offer in the winter months by utilizing imported flowers, especially for Valentine’s Day?
Then I began researching. I wanted to better understand the impacts of the global cut flower trade, why was the Slow Flower
Movement a thing? I understood the Slow Food Movement and a lot of the damage done by big ag for the soil health, the nutrition of those foods and so on. But pretty flowers? Was it all that bad, especially since you weren’t eating it?
As I began researching, I quickly came to my decision.
I was not going to utilize imported cut flowers for any of my business offerings.
I love people. I love nature.
Ultimately, the growing practices, chemicals, harvesting and treatment of the people behind those blooms and environment are things I can’t turn a blind eye to. I couldn’t feed the beast. Instead, we committed our brand to working within the seasons we have here in Northern Nevada and purchasing American Grown Flowers, mainly from farmer friends in California when needed.
I could not in good conscious hand a customer or bride a bouquet of flowers and watch them stick their nose it them knowing what the toxins those flowers are coated with. Sticking your nose in a bouquet of flowers is such a natural response, I wanted to make sure that it was enjoyable and safe for our customers to do that with our flowers. We even have a rule with our girls when it comes to imported flowers: they are not allowed to stick their noses in them and they must wash their hands after handling them.
Through my research, I can’t unsee what I have seen at this point. I love nature and fellow humans too much to choose selling a product I know could be harmful.
This is why I happily sit on the sidelines for this holiday awaiting all the magic and beauty that is just around the corner. With the temperatures rising already, things are going into a motion!
Spring is just around the corner!
I get really giddy this time of year! After some much needed rest, our plans are in place for the season and it is time to really start putting them into action!
Today, I went out to start cleaning up the peony patch of rogue weeds before we top dress them with compost. Digging down into the ground, it looks like we have maybe two more weeks before they break the earth’s crust! I am really excited because after three long years, we should be getting some stems from them (finally!).
Since I’m the curious sort, I also dug down to check how the tulips are doing. We literally threw everything possible at the tulips this year in hopes of a bigger bounty this season. Our wholesaler kept them cool for us to ensure they got enough cool temps, which I am so thankful we went that route after an unusually warm fall. We also used a new planting method which we can’t wait to share later! Back to checking on them- they are looking wonderful! I think they are my biggest nail biting crop: you get one shot. Hopefully everything will align just right to produce happy tulips because we chose some amazing varieties this year with the help of our wholesaler to ensure that they also thrive beautifully this season.
The propagation house is really being taken over by ranunculus and anemones! Trays upon trays they are happily growing and it looks like the temps are officially there that we feel good about planting them out under protection. Our goal is to have them all within the next week or two (so we can start one more round in the prop house!).
The girls helped me sow sweet peas last week and they can’t stop talking about when they come into bloom again. Their favorite place to lay in the garden, read, draw or simply have a tea party in between the jungly vines of the sweet pea rows. I’d say that’s a fairly whimsical place to be.
The tiniest seedlings are germinating from poppies that look too delicate to be real to one of my favorite (though, also the sloth-y-est of the annuals we grow) lisianthus! Our scented geraniums we potted up from fall are waking up and it’s almost time to start propagating from them to have more. I’m already out of room, which is why this girl is getting a second propagation house built for Valentine’s!
Can you tell I’m so ready for spring?!
I am also wrapping up on the dividing of the dahlias this week. I can’t believe in less than ten weeks we’ll already be tucking them into the field! I really need to just stop on getting all the new-to-me pretty varieties…
A sustainable gift for your Valentine (or yourself!) and knowing your flower farmers
Even though we are not offering a mixed bouquet for Valentine’s Day, we do have a special offering for the loved one in your life!
We are offering entire twenty four weeks of blooms, either for pickup every week (twenty four bouquets) or every other week (twelve bouquets). That is almost an entire six months worth of unique, fragrant, local and sustainably grown blooms with convenient pickup locations to choose from that best meets your needs!
We are passionate about what we do and we are also passionate about giving you a special floral experience knowing your flower farmer provides.
I mean do you really want to miss all of this…
And just saying… you’re not going to find sweet peas in the bouquets from the stores!
We also realize that you need something to hand over to your Valentine on the actual day, so we have you covered there too!
We teamed up with two of our super talented friends whose products make sense for the dead of winter!
Those that sign up for one of our season pass options, will receive two complimentary gifts handcrafted by our artisan friends!
MacaelaMade specially designed a beautiful and still classic Valentine’s Day card, inside we’ll also tuck in a little note explaining the gift of locally grown blooms you are giving!
A card is not enough! Remember in the beginning of my ramblings how I mentioned I love cheesy Valentine’s Day cards and tiny sweet treats.
Our adorable, incredibly talented friend (who is Food Network famous now) The Sugared Squirrel has made a batch of bumbling bumble bees! Okay, technically I think they’re honey bees with the hive but nonetheless: they are delicious reminder of all the bees you are helping to shelter and nourish by supporting our flower farm plus are tiny pieces of adorable art on their own.
We are absolutely thrilled to be partnering with amazing 100% woman owned businesses.
We will have some different delivery options to get your goodies to you Saturday February 12th!
I truly hope you found the history lesson of the holiday of Valentine’s Day interesting, along with why we are happily sitting on the sidelines for this holiday when it comes to the cut flowers. Thank you for reading, we truly appreciate each of you! We are at the last pit stop before spring, yay! To our amazing local friends, we hope you decide to join the journey with us for the 2022 season and if you do: we’ll be handing you blooms come April!
We are looking forward to handing you blooms soon!
Jessica & Graham