11/03/2026
Long post ahead. Apologies in advance! Here’s a photo from last spring of me doing what I love…
If you see me in the wild (🤣) you may have caught me on a cane day and wondered what I did. Yes, a cane. Like the kind my kids take from me and hobble around saying “look I’m an ooooold granny!” I am not a granny. And the old part is debatable. But I do have degenerating discs in my back. 😒
The pain sucks, yes. Some days worse than others so I’m only rocking the cane on certain days. But way worse than the pain is how much I’ve struggled doing simple flower farm tasks. Then when I finally got imaging done and found out it’s not going away, that’s when I really cried. None of the pain so far has been worse than the thought of no longer doing what I love. This is my job, but it’s also my passion. The thing that relaxes me, brings me joy, gives me purpose and identity apart from just being a wife, mom, and good human being. So I have been hurting physically, but also emotionally. 🥺
To cut to the chase, are we ending the flower farm? NO! I can’t imagine a world without it. I’ve been given some options that give me hope I’ll be feeling better eventually! What will change is the way we are doing things on the farm. And most of those things you as the customer won’t even notice. But please realize how very hard we are working and how very much we love this job and those flowers you buy from us. ❤️
So, if anyone has dealt with degenerative discs (especially if you’re a farmer or similar) please give me any advice that may be helpful! I know I need to do a few things. I’m trying to keep things as low maintenance as possible. Maybe raised beds. Maybe landscape fabric (cringe). Asking for help (double cringe). Any other ideas?
And here is my advice for other flower farmers. We hear so many times by veteran farmers, “stop undervaluing yourself”. And it’s hard but it’s true. A lot of work goes into this and our bodies take the wear and tear. That has to be calculated into pricing! We are valuable too! ❤️👏
