Spikey, Sticky, Sweet and Hot: LoCoFlo CSA Week 2!

It’s June 24th and it’s our 2nd CSA pick up day! While it has cooled off slightly (it’s only going to be 84 degrees today) it has been in the high 90’s for the last few days. With the heat, comes summer flowers. We’re past the transition flowers from our last pick-up like larkspur and bupluerum and we’re on to a new variety of flowers, fruit and foliage.

Today, our bunches are filled with:

• Blueberries from Greenstone Fields
• Snapdragons from Butterbee Farm
• Borage from Butterbee Farm
• Thistle from Seaberry Farm
• Hydrangea Foliage from Wollam Gardens
• Queen Anne’s Lace From Seaberry Farm
• Sunflowers from Capital Flower Growers

Since this is the first year we’re using Borage, we thought we’d tell you a little about it. If you’re looking for it in your bouquet, it looks like this!

Butterbee Farm loaded us up with a couple hundred stems in the last few weeks. Borage is also called Starflower and is actually an herb. The leaves are edible and Laura Beth from Butterbee Farm said it tastes like cucumber but Irene and I tasted it today and…it was a little gross to eat. Try it for yourself and see.

We also added thistle to our bouquets this week. We love the color but not the spikes!

Back by popular demand this week is another cold drink concocted by Eric to keep our CSA members refreshed while they pick up their flowers. This week Lemon Basil-ade! Hillen Homestead provided us with Lemon Basil this week that Eric turned into a simple syrup. He added it to lemon and water…and voilà!

In each of our blog posts on the CSA, we’ll share some things we heard people say while they were visiting. Today our best quote came from Andy: “The flowers last week were beautiful. My girlfriend just hugged the bouquet when I brought it home.

Thanks to all our CSA members, thanks to our growers and thanks to Irene for putting our bouquets together today!

Be sure to check the hashtag #locoflocsa on twitter, instagram and facebook to see more photos from the CSA. There is still time to join if you’re interested. Check out the sign-up form on our website.

Our next pick up date is Wednesday, July 8 from 4:30-7pm. See you then!

Earth Day at Butterbee Farm

Last Wednesday, Team LoCoFlo spent the morning volunteering at Butterbee Farm for Earth Day.

 

Laura Beth and Jascha, the wonderful farmers and Butterbee, made it super fun by planning “Farm Olympics”. Teams competed in three competitive rounds: precision planting, speed weeding and feats of brawn.

Carling and Irene were “Team Age Advantaged” since they are MUCH younger and more able bodied than their old, decrepit bosses.

Eric and I competed together and frankly didn’t do as we could have due to Eric’s laying around on the job.

Jascha worked with our new friend Lydia, a brand new flower farmer out in Chestertown.

We were judged by Laura Beth, Jascha and Maya Kosok, farmer extraordinaire from Hillen Homestead (and mom to our two littlest farm helpers).

It was a sunny day for planting chamomile, weeding beds and moving rocks. More than that, it was time well spent with our team and our friends. Working in the dirt, sharing a meal, taking pictures, laughing a lot…the most fun! It’s exciting to think that we’ll be using that chamomile in bouquets in just a few short months!

Everything we do at LoCoFlo depends on our amazing growers. Volunteering at the farm is just a small way for us to let them know that we are super grateful to them for all they do! Thank you Butterbee Farm and Hillen Homestead! You make Buying Local so much fun!

Thanks to Jascha Owens at Butterbee for some of the sweet pics!

Fun With Local Color Flowers at Butterbee Farm this Season

We’re so excited to be partnering with our friends at Butterbee Farm again this season to offer some really cool, unique classes for families, farmers and designers alike.

Our first class at the farm will be a Family Floral Crown Class on Monday, June 29th from 11-12:30. This class is perfect for teams of one adult and one child working together.  Adults and kids will have an opportunity to tour the farm, cut their own flowers, make beautiful floral crowns with their cuttings and have their photos taken in their creations.  How fun to spend the morning with your favorite young person at a beautiful flower farm just minutes from the city.

Our next class is going to be a highlight of our summer for sure! Butterbee Farm and Local Color Flowers are teaming up to offer Blooms and Bouquets on Monday, July 13th.  This is a perfect, one-day class for farmer florists and folks that are interested learning more about flower farming and design. Students will start the day at Butterbee Farm learning all about cultivation, favorite varieties and harvesting. The amazing Dave Dowling will be on hand for a Q and A about all things flowers! After lunch, students will travel to Local Color Flowers studio to learn to make a hand tied bridal bouquet as well as see demonstrations by Team LoCoFlo making boutonnieres, corsages, head crowns and more. The day will end with a discussion of marketing and sales of locally grown flowers.

On Saturday, July 25th we’ll be offering an Adult version of our floral head crown class at the farm. Last year’s class was so much fun we can’t wait to do it again!

Our final class of the season at the farm will be our hugely popular Pressed Flower class on Saturday, September 19th. Students will tour the farm, pick flowers for pressing, make their own flower press and learn how to use their pressed flowers for arts and crafts projects.

Space in all of these classes are limited, so if you’re interested in joining, please sign up soon. We can’t wait to see you!

For questions about any of our classes, please email Ellen at ellen@locoflo.com

When Winter Won’t Be Stopped

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of winter days that our growers spend wrapped up in quilts in front of the fire (or space heater) pouring over seed catalogs and crop plans and farm video games. (sorry, I had to out you Butterbee Farm!).

But not this week. In order to have early Spring flowers, growers have been working around the clock in SUB ZERO temps to keep their tender plants warm. Ranunculus, stock, tulips, anemones and more are some of the many early Spring flowers we depend on for weddings and events now through peony season in mid-May.

Extreme wind and bitter cold temps are wreaking havoc on hoop houses and greenhouses across our region.

Here’s a look at one of the end walls of one of Wollam Gardens hoop houses yesterday.

Here’s a shot of tiny ranunculus plants getting a little extra warmth from these twinkle lights at Greenstone Fields.

Our growers have been hard at work to ensure all of our Spring clients have beautiful, locally sourced flowers. Keeping all the cracks filled is key! Our friend Barb Lamborne, Flower Farmer at Greenstone Fields, is seen below working in negative double digit wind chills trying to reinforce the hoop house.

Using locally grown flowers is a super personal, extremely special way of doing business. Each flower is grown with so much love and care. There are no more dedicated folks than our flower farmers! THANK YOU to all of the hard working farmers in our region. We’re so grateful for you!

Experimenting with Flowers: The November 2015 Maryland Cut Flower Growers Meeting

by Carling Adele Wyncoll Elder

Brrr! It’s really getting cold here in Maryland (and everywhere else in the USA), which means that flower-growing season is starting to slow down for many of our flower growers. Or, at least it’s slowed down enough for them to get together and start strategizing for next year!

This morning, I had the pleasure of attending the meeting of the Maryland Cut Flower Growers. Walker Marsh, a brand new flower grower and friend, accompanied me from Baltimore, and I loved hearing about his plans for his farm The Flower Factory that he’ll start this coming year as we drove. I was also excited for Walker to meet many of the seasoned growers at the meeting and for him to pick their brains! The pool of flower farming knowledge that these Maryland flower growers possess is wide and deep, and an amazing resource for anyone who wants to learn about flowers. These growers are also friendly and extremely giving of their expertise, so I knew Walker was in for a treat!

As Walker commented on the ride home, the meeting was very “chill” and “actually useful”, a statement that I completely agree with! During the course of the meeting, we went around the room, and each flower grower shared useful tips and techniques that had worked, or hadn’t worked for them during 2014. Dave Dowling of Ednie Flower Bulbs explained how to use Limelight Hydrangea stems instead of Rebar to stake down a hoop house cover (they won’t destroy your tiller!). Eileen Stoner of Stoney Acres, demonstrated how to soak and split Norway spruce pinecones in half for use in Christmas wreaths.

Laura Beth Resnick of Butterbee Farm told of her success using a solar powered fence baited with peanut butter to keep deer out of her flowerbeds. All this information, and much more, was shared via a relaxed and natural conversation, with many interruptions for questions and comments, and of course laughter!

As Leon Carrier of Plant Masters stated, “we are constantly experimenting with cut flowers.” As all these flower growers have experienced, and I myself as a designer have experienced, there’s always more to learn about flowers, and more ways to improve growing, or designing with them. That’s why there is such a value in these meetings where we all get together, and help each other out by sharing what we know. Because when your life revolves around “experimenting with flowers” it’s nice to know there’s a bunch of smart and awesome flower growers out there who’ve got your back!

A Perfect Day for Head Wreaths at Butterbee Farm

By Carling A. W. Elder

On Saturday, July 26th, I began my day at Butterbee Farm. While the dew still lingered on the earth at my feet, I prepared to guide some ladies through the fun of designing a Midsummer Head Wreath. With the help of my talented and cheerful partners; Laura Beth Resnick, Farmer and Owner of Butterbee Farm, Krystal Masson, Owner of Esther&Harper - Vintage Rentals and Interiors, and Stacy Bauer, Owner of Stacy Bauer Photography and Local Color Flowers Designer, we set up for the class and got ready to begin!

           

Our class guests were a delightful mix of excited, adventurous, kind, and flower-loving women. As they sipped Basil Lemonade out of Esther&Harper’s delicate crystal cups, and snacked on Sweet William Shortbread, I had the pleasure of meeting each one of them. Their enthusiasm for the farm and the class was infectious, and made me feel extremely lucky that meeting new people is a central part of life at Local Color Flowers.

After sharing a brief history of Head Wreaths and Floral Crowns (did you know Head Wreaths started being worn at weddings in Ancient China?), I turned the floor over to the owner of our gorgeous venue, Laura Beth. Laura Beth then led us all on an informative and interactive tour of her farm. Stopping at different flower beds, Laura Beth let us touch, smell, even taste, and harvest flowers for our Head Wreaths. She also told us about her farming practices and plans for the future of Butterbee. After the tour, traipsing back to the work tables with handfuls of just-harvested flowers to use in our designs, I thought you really can’t get more farm-to-vase than this!

Once we went through the basics of making a Head Wreath, my “students” dove into making their own designs. Some ladies chose bold, bright colors, while others opted for more subtle, muted tones. One of the best things about making a Head Wreath, especially when it’s for yourself, is that there really is no wrong or right way to do it. At it’s core, all you really have to do to make an awesome Head Wreath is to have a blast playing with flowers, and to make something that you love, which I believe all of our guests did!

By the end of the class, each guest wore a stunning Head Wreath atop their head. Posing while Stacy took their portrait, each guest looked happy and beautiful wearing their creation. The variation among the Head Wreaths perfectly reflected the designer’s personality and style. I loved seeing the different details each person chose, from ribbon color to how they positioned the wreath on their head. All were perfect.

     

     

This design class was Local Color Flowers’ first ever design class at one of our grower’s farms, a dream of Ellen’s for many years. As I admired the Head Wreaths of our guests and looked out over this vibrant flower farm, I felt the joy of a dream fulfilled settle over me. I couldn’t believe that just a few months ago, I had stood in this exact same spot and looked out this same field, resting empty and barren. Now, just like the Head Wreaths we had made, this farm and this dream had come to full circle, brimming with flowers and life.

I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful morning.

To see all the gorgeous photos from our Head Wreath Class taken by the amazing Stacy Bauer of Stacy Bauer Photography, check out our Flickr page.

Photos, Friends and Flowers at Butterbee Farm

Last week Team LoCoFlo headed out to Butterbee Farm for an early evening photoshoot. It was a warm night and the farm was just starting to come alive with summer blooms. Our idea, was to get some shots to help promote our upcoming classes at Butterbee Farm.

What a fun night! We played with flowers, toured around the farm, drank limeade (thanks eric!) and enjoyed the beauty that surrounded us. Thanks to Stacy Bauer, photographer extraordinaire, we got some amazing photos of our models, our team and our dear friend Laura Beth, owner of Butterbee Farm.

The first class we’ll be offering is our Mid-Summer Head Wreath Class On July 26th . Head wreaths are hot right now! Attendees will be able to tour and pick flowers at the farm, enjoy sweet snacks and cold drinks, and make their very own floral head crown. What fun!

 

  

Our second class is our Down on the Farm Summer Centerpiece Class on August 17th. Learn how to arrange locally grown flowers, herbs, foliage and more!

Thanks to all our our amazing models (Rachel, Molly, Lindsay Anne and Sarah), our creative designers (and great models) Carling and Irene,  Laura Beth for being a pretty badass farmer and for Stacy Bauer for taking some sweet photos.

Check out Butterbee’s blog for more photos or to see the full photo album, check out our flickr page!

Design Classes at Butterbee Farm!

We are beyond excited to announce an upcoming collaboration with our friends at Butterbee Farm! This summer, Local Color Flowers will be offering two design classes AT Butterbee Farm in Pikesville. What could be more fun…visiting a flower farm, meeting the farmer, cutting and choosing your own flower  and learning to create beautiful designs with those flowers!

Our first class will be our Mid-Summer Head Wreath Class on Saturday, July 26 at 11am. Attendees will choose blooms and foliage and learn to create whimsical, natural head wreaths and other floral hair pieces. Everyone will get to take their head wreath home! (thanks to Readyluck for the gorgeous head wreath photo)

Our second class will be our Down on the Farm Summer Centerpiece Class. The farm will be in full swing in August and all our attendees will choose blooms, herbs, and foliage to create a beautiful centerpiece to take home.

Sign up today! Happy Summer!

Beaming with Pride

I can’t tell you how excited I am to share this story from the Friends School of Baltimore Magazine this month.

The story, written by LoCoFlo designer Carling Elder is the story of two Friends School alums that came together to create something amazing in Baltimore and along the way, became fast friends. The two friends are no ordinary young women. Laura Beth, my dear friend and founder of Butterbee Farm is a passionate, driven entrepreneur who is creating a sustainable flower farm in Baltimore. Irene Donnelly, also one of LoCoFlo’s designers, is a skilled floral designer, a creative artist and business owner (check out Snark Machine) and a truly joyful soul to be around.

Carling got together with Laura Beth and Irene and interviewed them for this article. In addition to being a fabulous designer, Carling is a great writer (as evidenced by her recent Honorable Mention Award from the City Paper in their annual poetry contest). The article, beautifully captures so much of what we are trying to do at Local Color Flowers. We’re working hard to help support new growers, connect like minded folks around the business of growing local flowers and have fun while we’re doing it.

I’m so happy that LoCoFlo played a supporting role in bringing these three women together. They inspire me every single day. I’m so grateful that for their contributions to our business as well as their passion and commitment to local flowers and farmers. Way to go team!

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.

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.

     

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

   

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.

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

Finally, the finished products!

  

 

 

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.