The Flower Mobile: Pt. 1
On the way home from our 6 hour round trip drive, bits of tire were flying off the trailer and we were nervous we wouldn’t make it home.
I’ve always encouraged Brad and myself to follow the path that resonates with us. I know some will think that is woo-woo, and it might be. I’m not denying it. However, we seem to share this conviction, that there is something bigger waiting at the end if we just stick to our values. This is a big part of why my husband left his position at a car dealership and took a teaching job at a local trade school in 2023. He feels passionately about being a positive influence on the kids there.
We had a 2 year old at the time he took his position at the school. It was the fall of 2023 and we were building Local Blooms as well. I stayed at home with our daughter (and continue to now) as this made the most sense for our family. Around this time, we decided to have another baby (a girl as it turned out!).
The following winter the idea of the flower mobile took hold. Though we have greatly appreciated the benefits teachers enjoy, such as the abundance of time off, we realized we needed Local Blooms to go from a casual market gig to a business that could provide us a second income. It was either that or I start working for someone else and ship the girls off to daycare. Neither of us were overly fond of that plan. We wanted the farm to be a bigger part of our lives and the lives of our children. The project became a reality when we found what we thought could be the perfect flower mobile in February of this year, 2024. We thought we’d have the conversion done by the time the market rolled around.
Bonnie was born May 18th, which so happened to fall on the morning of my father’s funeral. My dad had been diagnosed with a very advanced form of lung cancer 6 years prior and had been gifted wonderful quality of life until his illness advanced. He passed this Mother’s Day, May 12th, after a rapid decline that thankfully did not involve too much prolonged suffering (at least as far as I know, but he was never one to complain so it’s hard to say how much suffering he really endured those last few months).
Jane and my dad (her John John) pretending to be pirates, less than a month before his death.
My mom meeting Bonnie shortly after my dad’s funeral. Bonnie was the name of my beautiful grandmother who passed less than a year prior.
What we didn’t anticipate was that we would be dealing with so much loss (on top of losing my dad, we lost our family dog we’ve had since Brad and I were dating. We thought this loss would sting less considering what we’d already been through, but boy it still hurt), and all the other hectic happenings of 2024 (births, home renos and closings, yada yada).
The trailer ended up needing basically all new metal. We could not have done this project without the help of the welding teacher and the auto body shop teacher at my husband’s school. The sign was courtesy of my father-in-law long before the trailer was even an idea.
I’ve only been farming for a few years, and this season really tested my grit. With a newborn and toddler in tow at the market, to just trying to run a semi-peaceful household, I felt like I was falling behind in more ways than one. I’m tearing up all over again just reflecting on it all.
So let me tell y’all, I am so proud that though this horse trailer conversion has taken much longer than I anticipated (and taking into account I was also being pretty naive about the timeline), it is well on it’s way. Our flower mobile will be finished in time for the 2025 season and for that, I am grateful.
The Flower Mobile currently. I’m so excited about how the periwinkle turned out. Time to do the inside!