Delight Flower Farm

12/13/2024

📯Fresh holiday wreaths coming to Mistletoe Market this Saturday 10-5 Lincoln Square Mall.

Made from recycled 🚲 wheels, locally harvested greens, farm-grown dried flowers, and thrifted ribbons 🎀

Adorn your abode with these eco-friendly works of art for the holidays. We handmade each one with love. Quite a nice alternative to the mass produced varieties sold in big box stores. Tis the season of so much plastic consumption, packaging, and excess waste, but that’s not your only option.

These will be deeply discounted (on sale!) tomorrow to ensure we sell them and our handiwork doesn’t become more wasted energy❣️

12/04/2024

11/29/2024

Small Business Saturday is this weekend!

Get into the holiday spirit at the Mistletoe Market, where you’ll find a perfect handmade wreath to adorn your home. We made lots of the bike wheels to choose from. Plus, we’ll have a delightful selection of other farm-grown goodies to make your season bright. 🌲 Thanks for supporting local!

11/28/2024

🧡🧡🧡So many people/things to be grateful for everyday! This farm would not be what it is today without a supportive community. I’m grateful for the hardworking DFF crew, our CSA members, market & farmstand shoppers, & farmer buddies. (And for my non-farming friends who patiently stay connected through the seasons!)

🍄🌾🌼I’m forever in awe of nature and all I am learning along this journey.

🫖 Wishing you a cozy, comfy time today.

11/19/2024

If I look tired it’s because I am. I’ve been a quiet on Instagram lately, but there’s been a lot percolating behind the scenes. Here’s a few recent glimpses:

1) memorial flowers for a dear neighbor
2) the first wreath of the season
3) mice, mice everywhere
4) an apartment for H2A workers (!)
5) mums and lots of warm coffee
6) new farm stand lumber
7) farm-grown tea ready for holiday pop-ups
8) freshly planted ranunculus beds

*not pictured: grant applications, accountant appointments, squirrels eating tulips and so much more!

Seems like hope and grief are living side by side right now. 🕯️🕯️🕯️

11/18/2024

11/14/2024

Deck the halls of your home with a touch of holiday magic with a Delight Flower Farm wreath! Wreaths are constructed with all local greens, dried flowers, and natural accents. Decorations also may also include coordinating ribbons and ornaments. Each wreath is handcrafted by us at the farm.

Learn more and pre-order by 11/25:

Deck the halls of your home with a touch of holiday magic with a Delight Flower Farm wreath! Wreaths are constructed with all local greens, dried flowers, and natural accents. Decorations also may also include coordinating ribbons and ornaments. Each wreath is handcrafted by us at the farm. Our one

11/11/2024

What a beautiful mess: this is a corner of our propagation greenhouse with a very glorious exhibition of a farmer fail. 🫣

I’ll explain. These are heirloom mums. In fact, these are our mother plants from last year’s mum crop. Each year we dig up plants of the varieties we want to grow again and pot them up. Then in early summer, we propagate them by taking cuttings, use a natural rooting hormone to make more plants in trays, grow them til they have roots, and then transplant them in the hoop house. Well- that’s what is supposed to happen. This year we were so shortstaffed that the project never got the attention it deserved and the season kept rolling on by. And these guys kept growing!!

We do have some mums that we overwintered in our hoop houses and that’s what we’ve been harvesting from lately. But it’s far less than we wanted to have and less than we had last year. I’m disappointed that we don’t have more but I know exactly why. I’m determined not to drop this ball next year.

For most of the summer and the fall whenever I’ve walked by or watered these mother plants, I’ve felt a little sadness and scolded myself for not getting to them. Now they’re blooming in spite of all that negative energy I was feeling. 🌸🌼🌸

🌞I’m glad to see them here shining in the sun and I’ll keep taking care of them til next year when I get a chance to do better.

11/04/2024

Get ready to spread some holiday cheer!

Join us for our festive Evergreen Wreath Workshops and create your own beautiful, fragrant wreaths. These workshop tickets are LIVE NOW. (Newsletter subscribers started buying tickets las week, so some dates are already close to sold out!). Purchase tickets ONLY at delightflowerfarm.com or allerton.illinois.edu

Workshop dates:

November 21st at Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery
November 24th at Riggs Beer Company (3 times to choose from)
December 3rd at Sleepy Creek Vineyards
December 4th & 5th at Allerton Park and Retreat Center
December 8th at Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery

✂️ Learn expert techniques.
🌲 Choose from a variety of fresh, locally-grown, fragrant evergreens.
🎀 Decorate your wreath with festive ribbons, ornaments, and dried flowers.
🏠 Take home a unique, handcrafted wreath to adorn your door.
👥 Spend time making memories with your friends and family.
🚛 Support local small businesses.

10/31/2024

The marigolds are really having a moment on our farm right now. 🧡🧡

🌼 I love these beauties: their ruffled petals, their bright saturated colors, I even love their smell!

Getting the timing right to have fresh marigolds this time of year is quite tricky. I feel proud of this achievement of crop planning and the right varieties (short day bobtailed) to make it happen this year.

This timing is significant because these flowers are culturally important for several different celebrations, including Diwali and Dia de los Mu***os. They happen to be on theme color-wise for Halloween too!

We had our farmstand open today from 10 to 6 and it will be open again tomorrow November 1 from 10 to 6. It will be closed this weekend so stock up on marigolds and other fresh farm flowers on Friday. As a reminder, we will not be at the indoor farmers market so this is your chance to get your local flower fix.

10/29/2024

It’s not just the app- these heirloom mums ✨glow✨ in real life too!!

I’m so excited for the next round of blooms. Some of my most favorite flowers are on the shoulder seasons when it feels like things are almost over or when they’re just getting started in spring.

Right now we have limited quantities of these so they’re reserved for our wholesale florists and designers. As long as the weather holds out, we will continue to stock them in the farm stand.

Also- I’m toying with the idea of offering some Thanksgiving centerpiece arrangements this year. We used to do a big push for holiday arrangements but haven’t offered them the past couple of years.

What do you think? Do you want these on your fancy table next to your pie?!

10/28/2024

In August, I had the honor of speaking at a regional conference (Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers🤓).

As part of the presentation, I introduced Delight Flower Farm and gave a little breakdown of revenue channels/sales outlets for our farm. Our fresh flower growing season is now nearing its end for 2024.

I’m starting to reflect and make plans for 2025. I just referred back to this graphic because it really shows how much we do here as a small business. It’s way more than just growing flowers. 🌸☺️

Thought you might like to see it too.

10/27/2024

🍁 It’s a beautiful morning indeed! This cute little curiosity cabinet a.k.a. our farm stand is open from now until sunset.

I’m not sure how many more nice days we will have this fall for the farm stand to be open. Come on out and shop. 🌞

🌿🌿🌼Featuring: fresh eucalyptus, salvia, marigolds, floral chains, dried flower wreaths, DFF hats, bandanas, and farm-grown teas.

10/23/2024

I know I know- it seems early, before Halloween even… but believe it or not plans are underway for this year‘s holiday wreath season.

We’ve got some changes and some extra special things cooking for this year.

Next week our newsletter subscribers will be the first to hear sign up details for our wreath workshops. If you’re planning to attend one make sure you’re on our email list. You can sign up through our website today and you won’t miss any opportunities to attend. 📯

10/22/2024

Late season marigold joy! 🌼🌼🌼

10/19/2024

This teeny tiny bottle is the cutest farm find yet. 🥹

This spot on the farm has so much trash surfacing. We’ve found everything from mattress springs to door hinges to buckets and buckets full of broken glass during our brief time here.

I think it’s a several decades old burn spot. From back in the time when people who lived in the country just burned their trash instead of having it collected or dropped off somewhere.

Although we’ve spent countless hours pulling stuff out of it, we still find things surfacing. This year we decided one of our tulip beds will be located here since we will add lots of compost to the tulip beds. We’re hoping that it remediates the soil a bit.

Over time the rusty metal will return to minerals, and the glass will turn to silica/sand, which will be good for the soil. It’s amazing the little ways the earth can repair itself. In the meantime, all this trash has been kind of a hassle to deal with so finding this intact bottle feels like finding an uplifting treasure! 🍯

10/19/2024

👋 The farm stand will be closed today (Saturday) because we brought all the fresh flowers to

🌼Plenty of bright colors to decorate your home or gift to a friend in need of a pick-me-up. We also have tulip bulbs and dried flower wreaths!

🌷🌷🌷Come see us!