Top Three Photos that Say "Turnstone Farm"
I want to go share three photos that represent what my farm is!
Enjoy the eye candy!
This first one is the farm in full bloom! My farm is lush, and busy. I try to squeeze in as many plants as possible onto my tiny plot. Every year I try to add more. This means I have to constantly give back to my soil in the form of compost, organic fertilizers and cover crops. I have implemented no-till practices in order to keep all the micro-organisms in the soil healthy and to keep as much carbon out of the atmosphere as possible.
This second one is of my bouquet subscription bouquets. If it wasn’t for my regular bouquet customers (farmers market customers and bouquet subscribers) I wouldn’t be farming! Thank you to all who buy these bouquets and bring them into your homes. I love picturing the flowers from my garden inside your homes. Flowers on a table really do make a house a home.
This last one is a bridal bouquet from my dream customer. I love creating designs that look like they’re spilling from the garden. I colorful, I like big, I like lush, I like wild.
If I could give advice to all you brides-to-be it would be this: ditch the white and blush and go freaking rainbow! Ditch the eucalyptus collar and go fern and spruce!
Your Local Wedding Flower Primer
All local Alaskan flowers in a large, lush, cascading bouquet.
As the summer winds to a close I’m reflecting on a very fun (but hot and smoky) wedding season.
For those of you looking to get married in 2020, I want to talk you through the how-tos and what-to-expect when using our local flowers for your wedding.
Sourcing
During the blooming months of summer (May through September) I source all my flowers for weddings and events from my garden and/or from my flower farming friends in the Matanuska/Susitna Valley.
My garden (Turnstone Farm) produces blooms from tulips to dahlias and a variety of smaller blooms and foliage. In addition, I love walking my local trails and alleys looking for foraging material.
Two of my other favorite farms are Brown Dog Farm and the Persistent Farmer. The former grows a huge variety of high quality blooms and foliage. The later is an expert in growing dahlias. Both are a very far trek from my home garden and studio but worth the drive when I need additional design material.
Design
My ideal wedding customer doesn’t necessarily need to have the local vision. But she/he must want something a little wild and edgy. Not because this is what you get with local, but because this is how I like to design! As the photo above represents, I like the bride to look like she’s holding a garden in her arms.
My happiest customers want a variety of floral textures and may have a color palate but aren’t in need of specific floral varieties.
Pricing
The photos of your wedding will last a lifetime! The flowers in your photos will forever represent your amazing day. Because of this, they are worth every penny.
Local flowers are not necessarily less expensive than the local wholesaler. Why?
Farming in Alaska is more expensive than many places in the Lower 48. We have to ship supplies, seeds, equipment way farther than most farmers.
I pay fair market value to the farmers I source my flowers from.
I pay my employees a living wage.
Every penny you pay for local flowers, however, supports your local Alaskan economy! Thank you!!
How to Book a Wedding
Booking a wedding with the farm is easy! Head over to our “Flowers” page and scroll down to the “Weddings” section. There you will be prompted to fill out a quick contact form. We will get back to you ASAP so we can talk about your flower vision.
Other Things to Think About
When visioning for your special day, look at lots of online images. Hone your ideal wedding bouquet/arrangement/etc. to one final image. As you scroll through all the great pintrest photos, remember most of the images you see online don’t necessarily represent what’s in season locally. Know that we can produce a floral piece that represents your style while not always getting you every flower variety you request.
If wanting to DIY-it with our bulk flower buckets, look at photos and count the number of blooms/foliage stems in each piece. This will give you a good idea of how many buckets you need for your event.
Why Support Local Sustainable Floristry
What is the benefit of buying local, sustainably grown flowers? Keep reading to find out!
1) You support a local business! Purchasing from a local business keeps money in our community. Our business in turn supports other local businesses. So where does your dollar go when you purchase flowers from us? To local grocery stores, to employees that live in your neighborhood, to local banks, to our local garden stores and to other local farmers.
2) They’re freshest! Most flowers make a journey around the globe before landing on your dining room table. Since our flowers are cut right before you buy them, they will last longer in your vase without the need for chemical floral preservative.
3) Lower carbon footprint! Since we’re way up here in Alaska, most flowers in the grocery and at the flower wholesaler have traveled thousands of miles while being refrigerated. That’s a lot of energy just to bring you blooms! But our farm is RIGHT DOWN THE STREET! We can walk our flowers to the market!
4) No harmful chemicals! Most flowers you buy at the grocery have been pumped with floral preservative after harvest and doused with chemical herbicides and pesticides before harvest. Here at the farm we ONLY USE ORGANIC GROWING METHODS! This means we nurture our soil to avoid weed and pest problems. If we do have issues we only use products that fall under organic certification. After harvest we treat our blooms carefully by keeping them cool, giving them fresh water and selling them super fresh so we don’t need to use floral preservative.
5) Eco-friendly design! All our design is done foam free. Why does this matter? Floral foam is filled with nasty carcinogenic chemicals and never biodegrades. It simply breaks down in the landfill into micro-plastic compounds. What a disaster these are! Not to mention the chemicals released when handling this product. And since we don’t use a preservative in our flowers, after your event, you can compost them worry free!
6) This is my dream! By buying our product, you are supporting my dream of growing and designing flowers. Thanks SO MUCH!
I’d love a comment to let me know what YOUR DREAM is and how I can support you!