New Year, New Relationships

New Year, New Relationships

Each New Year I focus my energy to a single task in my business. As a multi-service entrepreneur, it is easy to put too many to-dos on my plate, so instead, I try to focus on one over-arching task each season.

Last year it was ‘learn how to raise cattle in 18 months versus 24 months’ and ‘grow my online portfolio’ in weddings.

At the end of last year, I’d completed both of these tasks but I felt more alone than ever. Now, I’m an introvert through and through, but this sense of being alone was deep, deeper than I ever thought and ever let myself recognize.

So, per usual I sat down at the end of the year, reconciled my books, looked through the data I’d collected on both the farm and weddings I’d designed for and said, ‘what’s next’. (ps. I love these ‘mundane’ tasks and usually find myself caught up in them). This year it wasn’t a black and white task that came to the forefront of my mind. It was this ‘feeling’ (which I’m not always good at recognizing) in place of a ‘learn this’ or ‘achieve this’ task.

It was the desire to form meaningful relationships.

Sure, it is easy to preach ‘know your farmer’ but I started to question what steps I’d actually taken to know people in my community. What steps had I taken to know the people who trust and buy from me? What did my stance on ‘know your farmer’ actually means to me, this introverted farmer who loves animals and gets anxious in crowds? I have fear, I lack confidence and ultimately it’s been what’s kept me from truly living what I so desperately wanted for my customers. For them to know me, their farmer.

The same became so drastically apparent in my wedding design as well. I’ve met vendors, had coffee with vendors and made some friends in the industry. I’ve serviced my brides, openly communicated with them and had a very happy experience with each of them over the course of the year. But, these people that I’ve met, had coffee with and serviced always seemed to be an arms distance away. Not because I’ve purposefully decided to keep a distance, but instead I chose to lean into what comes naturally to me as an introvert. But, ultimately as a person, I need relationships with more meaning.

I now see how vital relationships are for every person. Every introvert, every extrovert, every entrepreneur, every mother, father, sibling, and the list goes on. We all crave more meaningful relationships in our lives. I think it has become more apparent to me as an entrepreneur because so much of ‘marketing’ and ‘running a business’ seems to be done on the other side of a screen.

And while all that ‘screen time’ is necessary it’s time to practice what I preach and form relationships with you, with my readers, with my customers and clients and those who receive my weekly emails.

So, that is what 2020 is going to look like for me and this business. I’m focused on getting out of my comfort zone, getting to know all the special people that surround me and welcoming you into the pretty and not so pretty parts of running a farm and floral business. I hope to get to know you better and share more of myself with you this decade.

I’d love to meet you, and I’d like to formally welcome you to join me at an event this season. Let’s get to know each other better.

Floral | When Should I Contact a Wedding Florist?

When should I contact a wedding florist?

Early. While it might seem crazy to call on a wedding florist over a year in advance, if you know who you want to work with be sure to reach out to them early! It is very common for florists to be booking a year or more in advance.

My general ‘rule’ is if you have your venue, your colors, a general idea of what you want for flowers (centerpieces, large alter arrangements, aisle flowers, bouquets and boutineers), photos of flowers you love and a budget you have enough to reach out.

So, put together a list of your floral ideas and contact that florist you’ve been dying to work with!

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Floral | FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do wedding flowers cost?

Pricing will depend on the size of your bouquets, the number of attendants you have, the size of your centerpieces and your ‘extra’s’.

However, most of my bride’s spend between $2,200-$4,000

Do you offer complimentary consultations?

Yes! Let’s meet for coffee or wine and chat all things flowers!

Who should I bring to my consultation?

Bring whoever will support your individual taste! Just like dress shopping too many ‘cooks in the kitchen’ can distract you from choosing the flowers YOU love. It is also a good idea to bring whoever will be putting down your floral deposit. While I don’t accept deposits until you receive a formal proposal, it is a good idea to bring them with you so you can be on the same page when it comes to pricing and options.

What if I don't know anything about flowers?

That’s totally OK, I’m here to help! Bring images with you to your consultation and I will help you formulate a floral palette that will best fit your personal aesthetic.

Do I need to purchase vases?

You do not! I have a selection of vases that you’re welcome to use for your event, they are complimentary.

Am I the only bride you’ll work with on my wedding weekend?

If you’re booking full-service flowers then yes, you’ll be my only wedding that day. If you’re looking for floral styling only it is likely I will book another wedding on your date. But, rest assured your flowers will get my best attention no matter what service level you choose.

Do you offer delivery and tear down?

I provide full-service delivery and installation. I do not offer night-of tear down but am happy to work with you to pick up any rentals the week after your event.

If my wedding is outside of Madison, can I still work with you?

Absolutely! I work with couples getting married within a 45 minute radius of my farm in Belleville, Wisconsin. If you’re outside of this radius I would still love to work with you, but I have a floral minimum of $4,000 + travel fees.

Do you create samples of bouquets and centerpieces?

I can not. I am a small shop that works with seasonal flowers and create them for my individual couples, meaning I don’t have ‘extra’ flowers on hand. Each floral creation highlights flowers that are in-season and that are at the top of their game the week of your wedding. This decision was made to make insure you’re getting fresh, beautiful flowers on your special day. However, I can guarantee that the flowers selected will match your vision and will incorporate any ‘must have’ flowers.

What does it look like to book with you?

Booking is rather simple.

1. Book your consultation

2. Let’s have coffee or wine and discuss your vision

3. I will create a custom proposal for you

4. Review your proposal

5. Send in your deposit

6. Check flowers off your ‘to-do’ list!

Floral | Vendor - Blushing Willow Bridal

Photo by Ruthie Hauge Photography

Blushing Willow Bridal

One of the things that makes my job so fun is getting to know and become friends with some talented, passionate and inspiring vendors. Today I’m sharing one of these vendors with you.

A beautiful bridal boutique

I’ve worked with Kassie on several occasions and she is one of the kindest vendors I’ve ever met. Kassie started Blushing Willow Bridal out of pure passion as many vendors do. She saw a need in the bridal industry and instead of clinging to her degree she felt called to fill that gap by going out of her comfort zone and opening her very own boutique dress shop.

Kassie has some of the most GORGEOUS dresses and she literally blows me away each and every time we get the chance to work together. She see’s all the details and is on her toes to make every woman that wears her dresses to feel their very best.

If you’re looking for a hands-on vendor who will be there to help you select your perfect dress look no further. Say yes to a dress with Kassie and you even get to celebrate with a pink bottle of champagne. Need I say more?! Oh wait, yes I do, her space is absolutely INCREDIBLE and it stands out from the crowd.

Farm | Grass-fed vs. Grass-Finished vs. Pasture-Raised What the Label Really Means

Grass-fed vs. Grass-Finished vs. Pasture-Raised

What the Label Really Means

I think most people would agree knowledge is power. Our food system has done a really good job of disguising itself and today I want to take some time to give you a little more insight into what popular beef and lamb labels actually mean, it might surprise you how little information they actually give.

Grass-Fed

Grass-fed is probably the most over-used and deceiving label in the beef and lamb industry. This label essentially means that the beef or lamb you’re eating was fed grass or hay during SOME point of it’s life, often the beginning. This does not mean the animal was fed 100% grass and/or hay for it’s entire life. This label also doesn’t mean it spent any time eating pasture grasses. It could simply be ‘feed-lot’ beef that were raised on hay and later ‘finished’ on grain.

Grass-Finished

This label is your best confirmation that your beef was raised on 100% grass. This label can only be used when the beef or lamb was raised on grass and then ‘finished’ (brought up to final weight) on grass and/or hay. Grass-finished, like grass-fed, does not mean the animal spent time grazing pastures but at least you can be certain it was raised on grass alone. If you’re interested in the health benefits of grass-fed beef you’ll want to look for a label that says grass-fed and grass-finished beef, or ask your farmer.

Pasture-Raised

This label means that the beef or lamb you’re eating was raised on grass fields. It again does not mean it spent it’s whole life grazing lush fields (many pasture raised animals are still supplemented with grain) and it also doesn’t mean it was only fed grass and/or hay for it’s entire life. It simply means it spent some of it’s life on ‘pastures’ which is defined rather loosely. ‘Pastures’ can be overgrown fields or over-grazed fields so buying pasture-raised doesn’t mean that the animal got it’s nutrition from them, but it didn’t live it’s life in confinement so that’s a plus if you’re looking for a more humane burger.

Free-Range

Very few livestock are truly ‘free range’, meaning they can wander wherever there heart’s desire, at least that’s what you’d assume by this label right? This label is probably most common in the chicken or egg industry but I’ve been asked in the past if my cattle are ‘free range’ as well.

Let me assure you that the chicken or eggs on your grocery shelf didn’t come from chickens who were running around and laying eggs anywhere they please or pecking around an old farmhouse for grubs. It simply means (in most cases) that they had larger cages and were able to ‘move’ instead of spending their life confined to a cage the size of their bodies. So I guess the label is an upgrade but it’s likely not what you first assumed.

In my opinion it is not ‘best practice’ to let animals ‘free range’ due to predators and other hazards found on commercial or small scale farms. And this label in my opinion is as vague as the term ‘grass-fed’ or ‘sustainable’.

What Are You Actually Buying?

What’s the best way to know what you’re actually buying? Knowing your farmer of course, do I preach that enough?. If 100% grass-fed and finished is important to you, ask. If a humane life growing on green pastures is what’s important to you, ask. If knowing the animal was harvested in a humane manner is important to you, ask. The beauty of getting to know your farmer is that you’ll be confident that the product you feed yourself and your family fits the criteria you’re searching for.

Our cattle and sheep are raised on grass alone

Here at Homestead we raised grass-fed, grass-finished, pasture-raised beef. We harvest our animals on these pastures and my promise to you is to always be open to any questions about our practices.

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Homestead | Reflecting on 2018

what a challenging and beautiful year

I always wrap up my business years with a little reflection. A little Profit and Loss analyzing is usually were I start, then it’s onto what can I do to market my business better, what worked this year and what was a complete fail. This year I sat down to do the same reflecting but came up with something much different than typical. The truth is 2018 will go down in my journal as the most exhausting year of my life. I made this year exhausting, in fact I pretty much designed it that way. I took on a lot of new and really exciting things, but in the end it was too much for me and too much for the relationships I cherish the most.

So this year I’m being honest and sharing what my third year in business really looked like.

I’m exhausted.

This past year I’ve felt like I’m in a constant state of complete exhaustion and complete ambition depending on the hour of the day, sometimes literally. It’s been an exhausting roller-coaster that I’m thankful for, but one I’m ready to be done riding. I knew that taking on our homestead fixer-upper, growing a farm, growing a floral business and maintaining my existing design business would challenge me. It certainly has.

I’m an ambitious planner

I’m an ambitious planner. Meaning I make decisions months or years in advance. I plan out all the details, run all the budgets, and set out to make it happen whatever the cost to my personal well-being. It’s not something I’m always proud of but it is definitely part of my personal signature.

So, in classic fashion since we bought this homestead I’ve found myself making huge plans and have been running in a constant state of mind of ‘being behind schedule’. A schedule that I’ve decided is do-able, but one that hasn’t gone as I’d planned.

I self-impose deadlines in everything I do. I have deadlines for business projects and personal projects. If ‘project’ defines the activity it has a deadline. Deadlines usually keep me ambitious but this year they also made me very anxious.

The first deadline this year was that the cattle had to get out on pasture. I decided they HAD to get out by early May so we could save some money on hay and take advantage of a full growing season. But before that could happen we had to clear land, build a fence and over-seed a pasture. I had a deadline of 2 months, it took us 5 and for a planner like myself it was completely defeating.

This year we received a grant, which was a HUGE blessing, but came with another deadline. This time it was an end-of-the-year deadline which had to be met to receive the funding. I had it perfectly mapped out to take two months. Again, it took three instead and our weekends just kept clicking away slowly and painfully for me.

Last December I brought home a brand new set of livestock, sheep, which required adjustments to our cattle facilities to accommodate them. There are a whole set of deadlines I imposed because I decided to make this addition.

I had thought we’d for sure be completing my floral studio because it would ‘only’ take a month of weekends to get that project done. BUT instead we’ve not started it because my other deadlines have left us without spare weekends.

And like I said before every project has a deadline, so you can sprinkle in handfuls of other deadlines that have surely been missed this year.

For a person who stays ambitious by making and completing projects by the deadline this became an overwhelming and emotionally exhausting part of my year.

Even in the exhaustion I still see that this year was beautiful

Though I’ve been running on empty for what seems like most of this season there are definitely some beautiful things that have come out of this year.

One beautiful thing is I’ve learned is my limits. I’ve always been one to have a lot of kettles in the fire, a constant planner and mover. I often thrive in this environment. I’m ambitious and it’s never come back to hurt me, until this year. So I’m thankful for a year that has pushed me to the limits so I know when too much is actually too much.

I’ve figured out what truly fills me up and what exhausts me. Finally figuring this out has allowed me to refine the direction of my business so I can better balance my ‘cup’ in the future.

It’s also been a beautiful year because people have chosen to love me through my ambitious deadlines and exhausted state of mind which isn’t a pretty one I can assure you.

I owe the success of this year to three beautiful people

Another beautiful part of this year was that my business doubled in sales, even in the midst of the chaos I felt. And I can honestly say it wasn’t me that made that happen. Sure, I’ve made some significant efforts towards growing this tiny business - but I’ve never had to work an entire season from with complete mental and physical exhaustion. If it wasn’t for three incredible worker bees I wouldn’t have been able to move the needle so significantly in my business. It’s because of these three people’s support that I was able to keep my enthusiasm for growing through the exhaustion.

Matt and my parents really deserve some recognition

While I stole every weekend possible to work on projects, stole Matt’s vacation time, aged my dad a few years (or he’d probably argue more like decades), and made unrealistic deadlines that left me frustrated and often unpleasant - these three people were there for me every. single. day.

Mom cleaned the house, took care of the dog, hopped in to do hay, cared for lambs, put her own renovation project on the back burner and loved me through it all.

Dad scheduled equipment rentals, gave away his working weekends for mine, baled hay, fixed equipment, and was there every weekend to help however he was needed.

Matt pounded posts, stretched wire, baled hay, dug holes, handled livestock and was understanding that his house was a mess, that there wasn’t food on the table and supported me when he too was exhausted.

As I reflect back I have complete gratitude and incredible amounts of shame for how hard they worked for ME and MY business. They made HUGE sacrifices for me this year, too many to note, all to see my business succeed. So I want to publicly say I’m grateful for their understanding, their ‘were in this together’ attitude, their continuous support, their self-sacrifice and their unfailing love for me..

Thank You

I also want to thank YOU. If you booked me for your wedding this year, if you bought beef or lamb from me this year, if you showed up to build fence this year, if you kept in touch with me this year, if you encouraged me this year THANK YOU. Thank you for supporting this dream and I look forward to serving you from a fuller cup next year.

Also, thank you to all the friends and family of mine for understanding that I’ve been in a season of not having much left in me to give. I look forward to spending 2019 catching up, staying present and investing in our relationship.

Thanks for being here!

Farm | Our First Shearing Day

Our first shearing day

There are a lot of new experiences when you bring new animals to the farm. Today was our first experience with shearing and I can't help but laugh at how funny the girls look without their winter jackets.

Unlike cattle sheep are not easily corralled... so getting them in the barn and ready for the shearer was probably the most comical experience I've had with these ewes, mom even jumped in to help.

Once the girls were settled into the barn Jerry went to work shearing them and clipping their hooves, what an incredible process. These girls are squirmy and I'm glad I wasn't the one with the clippers.

So in the next few weeks we will be delivering our first wool to the mill to have the wool cleaned and crafted into some comfy mattress pads. I can't wait to sleep on my own wool.

With temperatures getting warmer and lambing only a month away I'm sure these girls will appreciate the extra weight off their backs.