Even the winged stingy things...

As far back as I can remember I have been in love with, anything and everything in the natural world. Behind my childhood home, there was a big field filled with wildflowers. This field later became a horse pasture for my little black and white POA horse named Snowflake and my sister's rust colored -shetland pony named Ginger. My sister and I grew older as did our horses. Life marched on, and I forgot about the wild flower field where I spent so much time as a girl- daydreaming, talking to the field mice whom I thought were my personal friends, making daisy chains under baby blue skies, and capturing lightning bugs on warm summer evenings. That sloping field hosted the return of Monarchs, year after year. Troves of insects like grasshoppers, crickets and minty green praying mantis. The rug of matted grasses concealed mice and voles along with lightening -quick snakes of numerous varieties. Not to mention the winged stingy things like honey bees, bumble bees and native bees.

Eventually I was a mother with a daughter just like myself that could think of nothing else than having a horse of her own. So once again the wildflower field became horse pasture for my daughters black Paint mare named Kitty and a chunky, spunky, overeater of a miniature horse named Gracie. Gracie passed a few years ago but Kitty is still with us. Kitty spent a few years alone before we decided to board her with other horses. She is still a part of our family but is enjoying her golden years being a part of a herd at a boarding facility.

And the pasture? It has become Edelweiss Flower Farm, named after my soul dog. A ever faithful and devoted German Shepherd, but that is another story for another day. But what about the wildflowers? And the butterflies, mice, and stingy things? Do not despair dear flower friends! I have kept a big chunk of that field just for my childhood friend's. I am a firm believer in working with mother nature not against her. I have intentionally left wild spaces for all of the little critters who haul seeds to their burrows, milkweed for the returning monarch, Solidago for the stingy pollinators and numerous grasses and flowers I haven't even begun to learn the names of. And I saved the best for last. All of the flowers grown at our farm are grown without the use of herbicides and pesticides. Thats good news for our insect community and good news for you and me too. I also avoid chemical fertilizers by using organic material along with cover crops that give back to the soil. Pesticide free flower farming means that all of the native pollinators can utilize and thrive from the pollen and nectar they gather from our flowers and that makes me feel like, the ever hopeful little blond haired girl that spent her childhood under baby blue skies amongst the wildflowers.

A bumble bee on a cosmos flower at Edelweiss Flower farm located in Ludington Michigan.