Do you ever have random memories just pop into your head, things you haven't thought about in years then all of a sudden without knowing why they just invade your head space. I had one of those moments the other day and it made me smile so I thought I would share it.
Years ago we lived on a 10 acre rural block that we had developed from a rundown orchard to a promising, productive market garden and grazing block. In the middle of this block I set aside 1 acre to grow Dried flowers. Helichrysum, Stattice, Poppy Seed Heads, Gypsophlia and any other flower or plant that dried well.
We would hang them upside down on drying racks suspended from the high ceilings in the sitting room of our old farm house, it looked amazing and I loved how I could grow them, dry them and use them in the crafty creations I was into making at the time.
If you don't know how big 1 acre is, it is a large area and you can grow a LOT of flowers so the majority of them would be packed up and sent off for sale to Turners and Growers auctions so they needed to be of a high standard. They needed a lot of looking after, weeding, nourishing and when they were mature they needed to be picked every single day.
This was the part I loved most because at the time my 5 year old daughter Pine and I would pick the flowers together. After school she would get off the school bus, have a little rest and an snack then off we would go down into the garden with our cane flower baskets over our arms to pick the flowers. I had 3 older children but I would always take Pine because she was the only one who would pick the flowers correctly, she new just how open the flower head should be, and the right length the stem should be picked at, all of this was important so that you got the best out of the crop and for a five year old to take all of that in was nothing short of amazing. She would get $1 per day for her effort and for years after she said she was going to be a Florist when she grew up, I guess somewhere along the way she changed her mind but she will always be my flower girl. As for today, I wouldn't know one flower from the next but I still cherish the memory.
Years ago we lived on a 10 acre rural block that we had developed from a rundown orchard to a promising, productive market garden and grazing block. In the middle of this block I set aside 1 acre to grow Dried flowers. Helichrysum, Stattice, Poppy Seed Heads, Gypsophlia and any other flower or plant that dried well.
We would hang them upside down on drying racks suspended from the high ceilings in the sitting room of our old farm house, it looked amazing and I loved how I could grow them, dry them and use them in the crafty creations I was into making at the time.
If you don't know how big 1 acre is, it is a large area and you can grow a LOT of flowers so the majority of them would be packed up and sent off for sale to Turners and Growers auctions so they needed to be of a high standard. They needed a lot of looking after, weeding, nourishing and when they were mature they needed to be picked every single day.
This was the part I loved most because at the time my 5 year old daughter Pine and I would pick the flowers together. After school she would get off the school bus, have a little rest and an snack then off we would go down into the garden with our cane flower baskets over our arms to pick the flowers. I had 3 older children but I would always take Pine because she was the only one who would pick the flowers correctly, she new just how open the flower head should be, and the right length the stem should be picked at, all of this was important so that you got the best out of the crop and for a five year old to take all of that in was nothing short of amazing. She would get $1 per day for her effort and for years after she said she was going to be a Florist when she grew up, I guess somewhere along the way she changed her mind but she will always be my flower girl. As for today, I wouldn't know one flower from the next but I still cherish the memory.
When I close my eyes I can see my little flower girl.
I love this painting, sorry not sure of the Artist but it perfectly depicts my memory of the sunny days with my little flower girl in our garden. She probably remembers it much differently but then that's her story.
I love this painting, sorry not sure of the Artist but it perfectly depicts my memory of the sunny days with my little flower girl in our garden. She probably remembers it much differently but then that's her story.
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