Hello friends! Wow, February really does just come and go in a flash, huh? So much has happened in the few weeks since our last newsletter, and yet once we enter growing season, it will seem like this was a quiet spell. This is the time of year that tricks us into Spring thinking with a few warm or sunny days, or some early snowdrops just pushing through the melting snow and autumn leaves, just to ice them over and knock out power for a cold spell the next day.
This month we had the pleasure of meeting new brides-to-be over coffee, receiving the seed orders we placed last month, seeing some happy faces for Valentine’s Day deliveries, and working on breakdowns for upcoming weddings. In the next few weeks we will be soaking and sprouting ranunculus corms, putting up our greenhouse, and prepping the garden spaces, then it’s a slippery slope into seeding-planting-weeding-fertilizing-harvesting time!
As promised in our last newsletter, we wanted to shed a little light on our staff, and first up- it’s me! Hi!
I’m Jamie, the mystery fairy writing these blogs and also the florist, farmer, and founder here at FMFE. When you send us a dm, I’m answering. When you call or text, it’s me you’re talking to. When you receive flowers, I’m the one sourcing, arranging, and delivering them. When you leave a nice review or send pictures from your big day, I’m the one seeing them and getting weepy and telling my mom all about it over the phone. I love a good snowfall, have a favorite donut shop (Groovy Donuts of course!), have to edit out at least 60% of the exclamation points in every email, and am lightly obsessed with Taylor Swift. Christmas is my favorite season, all of my houseplants are struggling (but alive!), and I have a few too many unicorn & fairy tchotchkes leftover from my childhood fairy garden room. In my spare time, I love nothing more than going to see live pro wrestling, but also enjoy long walks around the farm and making up songs about my cat and bird, Poopcat and Dandy. More importantly, I’ve been gardening and growing my whole life and have been increasingly interested in combining that knowledge with practices of sustainability over the last decade. Around six years ago, I realized that my pastime of arranging flowers was quickly growing into a dream career, and went on to train and manage at wonderful local flower shop, Van Atta’s. When the opportunity presented itself, I took it and spread my wings, and FMFE was born! Now I get to spend time creating local, sustainable, and personal flowers for my community, and it’s so new and so exciting! Next month we’ll introduce you to the rest of our staff, so stay tuned. :)
February was a busy time, and with each email we send out, this year gets busier and busier. But it’s important to stop and create space when unexpected situations arise. Unfortunately, February also brought such horrific tragedy to our East Lansing community, with shootings on the campus of MSU. Honestly I can’t even begin to think of anything to type here that would help it hurt less, but I can’t. I can only say that it is so important to hold one another close, express our love, and remember those we lost, those who are struggling to survive, and those who are and will continue to be affected. While I don’t have much helpful to say, I can let you know that as a business we have decided to donate 10% of every order (excluding events, sorry) to the Spartan Strong Fund through the end of March, to tangibly offer assistance to our MSU family. We highly encourage you to donate directly to the fund if you are able, and that can be done here: https://givingto.msu.edu/spartan-strong.cfm
Go green, go white. Take care, friends.
Jamie
FMFE