Shari Ann
“Sometimes something needs a little less light, and more shade to be happy”, my mother says to me as we build a garden together, under the patio stairs. “Everything has their own needs to help them thrive, and that’s ok”, she continues as her bare hands dig deeper to place a tiny seedling in the dirt. I nod my head and hand her the next plant, thinking how silly it was to plant an entire garden underneath some stairs. That space got barely any sun, it got barely any attention or thought. But there she was, on her hands and knees giving it every bit of attention it deserved. I should’ve noticed the lesson she was desperately trying to tell me; trying to tell anyone that would notice. The things that live in the shade, still need the attention, still need a thought.
A few years later, my mother committed suicide not far from this garden.
I think back now and it seems so obvious how the trajectory of my life would pan out. Yet, in the midst of tragedy and young-adulthood, there would have been no way to predict I’d be building a flower farm in her name. She is the one who taught me what a flower is, what a flower needs; and most importantly, how each one deserves its own environment to thrive. Through her, I have built the patience and the grit to make sure each variety I grow gets the patience and care it deserves.
See, each flower is different. Much like people, they require different levels of light, warmth, food, nutrients, water, rest, and protection. If given these circumstances, a plant can not only survive but thrive. It will reproduce and even evolve into new varieties of itself. The flower does not compare itself to the bloom next to it, and it certainly does not bloom because we told it to. It just does what it was made to do, because the environment allowed it to do so.
Every other creature on this planet is designed to survive based off their environment. Species have evolved enough to survive the circumstances of this earth. They still live and reproduce like their ancestors many years before. Yet, some of us humans “choose” to die. Despite our superiority, our intelligence, or our capacity to adapt, we decide the world will be better off without us.
I can’t sit here and give you a lecture on evolution, or even mental health. I am, however, just a girl who lost her mom and is trying to start at flower farm in her honor. To honor her story and anyone’s story whose environment didn’t allow them to bloom. I am still walking this path of grief, preferably walking the paths of my garden. Many times in doing so, I am overcome with gratitude too.
I went through the trenches in my adolescence. However, I look along these plains, at these rolling hills, and am just in awe. The sunrises and sunsets give me that light worth living; and I know the wind can be a bit much but it is the air that I’ve needed all my life.
We bought our property in 2018, when my daughter was exactly 1 year old. My little girl is already the next generation of women in my family. This little farm is going to be a legacy that my daughter can be proud of. It has to be, I can’t suffer the way my mother did. I have to bloom. My daughter is watching.
My mother, her grandmother, was an extraordinary woman. Her environment didn’t allow her to complete her bloom. Through this business, we will make sure that everyone we meet knows how special it is to bloom. In her own way, in his own way, at their own time.
If you see us in town, come say hi! Tell us your story about how you blossomed or are still growing. Either way, we are excited to be apart of this community and are eager to spread awareness about the care and attention we all need to bloom.
Jessica
Shari Ann Farms
