feeling feral

Anyone else get a little too used to hiding out and not being seen during all this? As someone who has always hidden out behind the distraction of my beautiful floral creations renegotiating business after lockdown feels particularly daunting. I'm a big fan of camouflage by distraction. No one seems to notice the unswept floor when the shop is filled with flowers. But what about when it's not filled with flowers? Doing business while locked down has meant buying and foraging only the flowers I need for the orders I have. This has been a huge challenge for me as someone who always had the "stocking the sales floor" excuse to overbuy. 

I have to admit spending whole days playing with flowers and not having any in person interactions with others has left me feeling a bit feral. And maybe a bit frumpy. I did used to enjoy putting together a cute flower girl outfit to create in. Giving a shit what my hair looks like and which boots I decide to put on. But I'm not going to lie, it has also been nice to only fret about what the flowers going out the door look like and not also having to keep the shop and myself up to presentable standards. While sometimes I miss sharing the shop with the public and Chewy certainly misses his fan club I definitely have enjoyed, sleeping in, foraging and shopping for flowers when and where I want to and designing uninterupted and late at night when I feel most creative.

As things start to get back to a new normal I have to take an honest look at how I have been doing things and how I want to do them moving forward. Now that we can go places again I don't want to be tied down to the shop keeping regular retail hours. I also have had the great opportunity to connect with more small, local flower growers in the area and know that on short notice I can whip up an amazing arrangement even if I have very few flowers on hand. The amount of stems I need to keep in the shop to fill orders is much smaller than the amount I need to have on hand for people to be able to come in and select them by the stem. While I know what most appreciate about buying from my selections is the quality and unusual variety I certainly can't come close to competing with prices at trader joes, new seasons and the farmer's markets. I even source from these places sometimes as their prices are well below even wholesale prices at market. What I really want to be doing is making arrangements. Selling by the stem has always mostly been a way to facilitate having a good selection to design from but I'd much rather shop and forage for the flowers as needed. When I bring flowers in as they are ordered they are fresher and longer lasting when they reach their final destination instead of languishing in the shop in hopes of a walk-in. I love shopping and foraging with purpose and inspiration instead of it feeling like a gamble and worrying about what might go to waste. I know to some, in the neighborhood especially, this will be disappointing and you'll miss being able to pop in and pick out your own stems. But if you've been a fan of the shop for very long I'm sure you've already experienced frustration or disappointment at my irregular hours or lack of a full selection when I've used up all the good stuff on orders that have already gone out. If you love what I do and still want to support the shop you can preorder pick up or delivery on our website or come see us for First Friday Flower Club the first Friday of every month (more on that NEXT TIME). You can also get on  our email list  to get updates about what I'm doing and new things I'll be offering. If I'm not spending all my time keeping the shop stocked I can start taking on weddings again, plan workshops and foraging field trips, what would you like to see?