16 December 2017

Just one more day . . .



It's hard to believe but if you've been planning on joining us here tomorrow is your last chance before we close for the Christmas Season and begin making our own merry. 

Sunday, December 17th
12-4

Cheers and blessings of the season to you all!


23 November 2017

Merry + Bright

The 2017 Christmas Season




WINTER OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, December 2nd  11-4
Sunday, December 3rd,  12-4

Moving forward and revisiting my roots.  Slowing down and staying focused.  Exploring and creating.  Sharing and Learning.  By the time we reach December 31, this past year will have been all of those things wrapped into one.

My path is clear, my goals more focused.  My plans in place and in the works.  More than ever it seems, I know where I'm headed and pretty sure how I'm going to get there.  At least as sure as one can be when you're a Flower Farmer-Florist, growing and making in a zone three environment where mother nature does her own thing anyway. 

But as that most glorious of season's approaches, it's been with a mindset that asked me to slow it down just a little.  Autumn comes and goes so quickly and this year, more than ever, found me missing the subtle changes of the season as we began to move at that usual frantic pace to prepare to welcome you all for the holiday season once again but you'll find us ready and waiting for you all ~ I'm looking forward to seeing you soon!

Cheers + blessings of the season.

Kate


23 October 2017

Holiday Hosting Urban Farmchick Style

The Christmas season at Moss Cottage holds a special place in many peoples hearts including my own.  We've always worked so hard to bring you an experience worth waiting for and when we hear those first relaxed sighs as you walk through the door and the words "now, the Christmas season has begun" or "it just doesn't feel like Christmas until my visit to Moss Cottage", we know that our hard work has been worth every paper cut, wire poke, the pitch stained hands, late nights and early mornings, sleep deprived brain drained, moments of joy, uncertainty and anticipation. 

And while I love seeing you come through those doors to forage and gather the little bits of goodness that you so graciously cart off and into your homes, your private spaces, creating seasonal memories for you and your families, there's always so much more I've wanted to be doing for you and this is the year.  Yay! 

I've been searching for a long, long time but I'm picky ~ about the surroundings, the feeling of a place, wanting both that rustic and industrial combination and this past February, that "place" finally came to be.  The lounge at The Chanterelle, while still very much in the construction phase when I first visited, the exposed brick walls and those stunning hight ceilings had me hooked and I booked it ~ for one glorious evening in November just a little over 3 weeks from now.  A special event evening where I'll be sharing the Urban Farmchick/Moss Cottage style Christmas How-To.  A relaxed, intimate evening on nibbles and drinks, gather your friends, join me and I'll take it from there.  Whether it's in your eat-in-kitchen or formal dining room, make this the year you actually plan and host a simple but inspired gathering of family or friends.  Tickets to this event are limited!  You can book your ticket here.

The remaining details of our Christmas Season will be coming at you via Newsletter (to newsletter subscribers) on November 1st before being shared on November 10th.

It's going to be a fun season . . .

Cheers, 

Kate

20 October 2017

A note on the things to come

Details of the 2017 Winter season at Moss Cottage are brewing!  It's a year of fantastic new things, some additions, some deletions ~ all in Urban Farmchick/Moss Cottage Style. 

The First of the Seasonal Newsletter has just hit the "deliver" box and the goodness contained there will be posted and shared here, on our Facebook Page and Instagram feed on Monday, October 23.  The rest of the fun details will head out by Newsletter on November 1st and to the public on November 10th. 

It's going to be a fun season . . . but in the meantime, I continue to enjoy these stunning autumn days and spend time next to the water and in the woods as often as time permits.  

  

28 April 2017

The calm before the storm

"Spring had come once more . . . lingering along through April and May in a succession of sweet, fresh, chilly days, with pink sunsets and miracles of resurrection and growth."

~ Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables)


It always takes me some time to get up and at it again after the dizzying swirl of that most glorious of seasons.  

I pretty much crash for the month of January while the seed catalogues begin to arrive, piling up waiting for the day I get my flower farmer pants on and the planning of the growing season really begins.  I'm always thinking about flowers and the planning of the next season really does begin during the current growing season based upon successes, failures, challenges, likes, dislikes, special requests.   

Generally impatient in nature, while simultaneously (through shear flower farming exhaustion), silently wishing and waiting for the first frost to end the cut flower growing season, I'm anxiously looking ahead, impatient to try new varieties, new colours, new visions. 

Self-taught but inspired by much, a love of and interest in flowers developed into a passion which found me scanning the ditches, the woods, and my friends’ backyards for grasses, wildflowers, twigs and other gifts of nature. I couldn’t help it, or so it seemed, for I imagined all of these things taking some shape or place in my plucked from the wild floral designs.  It became clear over time that the natural look I was after could not be readily achieved from the flowers traditionally available from wholesale florist supplier and so I began to grown my own. 

I've been growing cut flowers for some time and I'm proud to be one of the areas only growers whose sole crop is flowers.  But, there is a flower movement afoot that has fuelled and recharged my love of and desire for flowers, sustainably grown from seed to harvest, and to making those flowers available on a local level.  

In March 2017, the New York Times published an article on this very revolution.

"A preference for wilder arrangements and fresh-from-the-garden or woodland-floor flowers is not new, of course." writes Deborah Needleman.  
It's so worth a read.


Harvesting from nature has always been my calling and it still brings me calm, joy and purpose all at the same time and I want nothing more than to share the opportunity for other like-minded flowering souls to experience that as well.  

While I'm not yet ready to workshop share my flower farming experience with others, I can share my love and style of floral design through a lovely MOTHER'S DAY Flowering Workshop and a unique Gifting opportunity that celebrates others who love flowers and flowering as much as I do.  More of these workshops will be available later in the growing season where you will be let loose to forage and harvest from the more than 50 varieties of flowers grown here at Moss Cottage ~ I can already see the beauty you'll create. 

To read all about the Mother's Day Workshop go here.

To read all about the Mother's Day Flower Gift Giving go here and here. 

OR click on the SHOP button to the left of the page.

I'm super excited and I hope you will be as well, let me know what you think.  The gardens are currently awash in wintery white, I've sought out Ontario growers whose flowers will be the source of our flowering fun.

Cheers,

Kate