Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Local Color Flowers On Debra Prinzing’s Slow Flowers Podcast!

Debra Prinzing, for those you don’t know, is one of my flower idols! She has an amazing career as a garden writer and recently published two AWESOME books called  the 50 Mile Bouquet and Slow Flowers.

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I don’t know Debra, not in person, not yet…but I  KNOW her. We share a passion for local flowers and local flower farmers. The work that she is doing to bring attention to American Grown flowers and the people that grown them and the people that design with them is truly inspiring.

Recently, Debra started this really cool podcast called Slow Flowers which you can subscribe to/download on Itunes.  It’s a wonderful look at the American flower industry including farmers, designers and enthusiasts. Listening to these interviews is definitely a treat and makes me feel part of extended community of amazing flower folks.

This week’s podcast features none other than Local Color Flowers! It was such a treat to talk with Debra and share the story of LoCoFlo with her listeners. If you want to give a listen, you can go to Debra’s website or you can find it on Itunes!

Thanks for listening!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Vacation to Maine = Shopping Trip for LoCoFlo

By Irene Donnelly

LoCoFlo Class (08-03-13) 60I went to Maine last week for Vacation. Ellen, always ready to pounce on opportunity, gave me some spending money and a quest to find all things milkglass, mason jar and cans.  In other words:  vessels for the shop.   

We speculated that Maine would have mountains of killer finds.  I can't speak for Ellen but I imagined Maine as this rural, out of touch place for cheap desirable antiques. A place where I would be able to find warehouses full of Americana that no one found valuable except me.  In reality the vintage landscape was comparable to Baltimore and my quest did not exceed my pillaging expectations.  However, I did learn some valuable lessons. 

Frist, the Flee Market is king for treasures and deals.  Check out the ridiculous items my partner in haggling and life found.

DYLAN

Secondly,  if Flee Markets are going to be my main source for finding vessels in the future, I had better work on my negotiating skills.  It was rough having to go through a financial debate every time I was ready to buy.  The process made me feel iky inside and I didn't get my usual "I found a something really sweet!" high.  It made me miss my thrifting days in Baltimore. It made me think…"price labels…  what a convenient innovation."  I will never take seeing something I like with a price on it for granted again and kudos to me if it happens to be half price day at the Value Village. 

Then again, some sellers I encountered were just easier to make a deal with than others.  For example I got all of these early 19th century medicine and elixir vials for a steal.  Great for a grouped arrangement!

bottles

I also found this half gallon Blue Masson Jar for $5.  That was a real deal considering, the quart sized go for about $12 and don't have the pretty glass lid.

jar

Back to nightmare haggling. This woman owned a junk shop on rt. 1 in Maine.  I think it was call All in the Family or Family Antiques but who cares.  She claimed she owned an antique store but her display could have used improvement and imagination.  The words of Carol Caggian0, "perceived value" are currently flashing above my head.  Again, it was a junk shop where everything I picked up  was not quite right and over $12.  Oh my! Way over of my self imposed budget of $4, per vessel.

I did however manage to score these two unmarked cheese boxes.  Haggling ensued and two days later the night sky displayed a magnificent blue moon.  Strange coincidence.

box

Finally, it has recently become my mission to convert all the rustic Americana folks out there from Masson Jar to Cans.  I mean, just look at the awesome graphic quality's in the labels.  Imagine all the fun we could have displaying complimentary flowers in them. The humor!

can 2

can 3

can

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Farmer’s Market Design Class at Local Color Flowers

Our first Farmer’s Market Design class was a huge hit! What could be better than a design class focused on locally grown flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables…with local snack…and visits from farmers?

As folks arrived, they were greeted with snacks and coffee from some of our favorite farmers market vendors including Zeke’s Coffee and Chez G. Once everyone got acquainted, the class started with a welcome from Laura Beth of Butterbee Farm.  We were super excited for folks to meet some of the growers who grew the flowers for our class.

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After I demonstrated some of the design techniques we would be using, including using chicken wire instead of floral foam and how to use fruit and vegetables in arrangements, the students were ready to begin.

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First they chose their vessels and they they chose their flowers.

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Midway through the class, we were lucky enough to have a visit from John McKeown of Locust Point Flowers,  another one of our amazing farmers as well as Mr. Reid, of Reid’s Orchard, who grew the grapes we used in our designs. It was great to hear about flower and fruit farming in our region.

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Toward the end of class, it was time for tweaking arrangements, gentle critique and final flowers before we took photos.

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Finally, the finished products!

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Thanks to everyone that came out to our class! Thanks to all the farmers that provided our flowers including Butterbee Farm, Hillen Homestead, Capital Flower Growers and Locust Point Flowers.

Special thanks to the AMAZING Ana Isabel Photography for these amazing photos.

To see more photos from the class, check out our flick page.

To sign up for our next Farmer’s Market Design class, check out our Class Page.