We've had such an exciting year in 2018. It was a lot of hard work but we also had opportunities to work with different people, meet the friendliest customers and vendors and we had a ton of fun. As we've reminisced about the past year and have been knee deep in 2019 planning, its been fun to pick out some of our favorite memories. What stood out was how many of our highlights were centered around great communities and relationships that we've been fortunate to be surrounded by over the past year.
Thanks for buying local, for supporting our family and for your friendship and kindness this past year. We are so excited about what the next year has in store!
Flower Stand Face Lift
Any customers out there from 2017? You may have noticed that we gave our flower stand a bit of a refresh at the beginning of last year. It wasn't huge, but for a small business it was an investment that we were really proud of and we used the same look at the farmer's markets. And now as we are looking forward to more volume next year we've got a few more fun updates up our sleeves! Stay tuned for another update in 2019.
Dutch Roots Farm Wedding Floral Design
We have had a blast getting into weddings and events this year. We were fortunate to work with some amazing wedding and event vendors and photographers and love that our brides and clients are open to working with seasonal, local flowers on their big day. And we brought on Erin for the design side. Brides love her fresh, organic style and we just love to work with her. We are looking forward to some beautiful weddings in 2019 as well!
Photos by Nadine Photography Co, Dutch Roots Farm and Natalie Renee Photography.
Livermore Farmer's Market
The Livermore farmer's market was the first market we'd ever participated in. We could not have asked for a more welcoming and supportive community. From the regular customers who came by to bring fresh blooms into their homes every week, to the incredible vendors who graciously shared their expertise and words of encouragement, we loved being a part of this supportive group of people. We had our first sell out over Mother's Day and received the most kind words and notes from our customers at the end of the season. We are looking forward to bringing blooms into the community for 2019.
Free Flower Day
Mark is pretty tight about things but somehow agreed to give flowers away for FREE for my birthday. We gave away 100 bouquets and it had to be the most fun I've ever had on my birthday. Not only did my close friends show up to make all those bouquets (which was awesome in itself!), but a few local businesses hosted (shout out to Chit Chat Cafe in Manteca and The Big Dipper in Escalon!) AND so many people showed up and passed along the blooms to someone else. For several weeks after I got to hear from people who received some blooms that brightened their day and it was the most fun and an all around great experience for us. We can't wait to figure out more unique ways we can have fun with this business and bless other people.
Ripon Main Street Days
We weren't sure if we would have enough flowers for Main Street Days in Ripon this past fall. We had less than we would have liked but are so glad we still showed up. Our family loved eating breakfast at the Ripon Fire Department pancake breakfast, walking through some great local businesses and cool cars and chatting with our neighbors all morning. It was a blast selling flowers in our hometown and can't wait to do it again- next time we will be working to bring more bouquets to town so we don't sell out at noon!
Our Rock-star intern Kristyn
We lucked out having Kristyn as our intern this past year. Not only is she a beautiful person inside and out, but she also is an amazing photographer, great at bouquet making and generally positive about giving anything we'd throw at her a shot. We sure will miss her when she goes away to college next year!
Changes at the Farm
We added two greenhouses, rearranged trees, added irrigation, and built a chicken coop! That last one was just for fun, but we generally always have a project in the works on the farm and have been surrounded by family and friends who show up and pitch in. In the photo below Mark's grandpa is helping him with the greenhouse build. He comes by almost every day and has been such a blessing to us. This past year our mantra was to invest in the farm with the future in mind and we are so excited about what it sets us up to grow in the next few years.
DoMo with Four Friends Market
We had the chance to do a few local standalone markets and one of our favorites of the year was DoMo with Four Friends Market. It was so well organized and the local vendors are so talented and have such a great, supportive community. If you haven't been to one of their events before, this one is a must!
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