I've decided to not go into all of the trials and bumps of starting a new business (or just being) in 2020. We've all lived it, so we don't need it broken down. But all of the Kushik's here at Crescendum Flower Farm hope there has been some sort of silver-lining, albeit small, for each of you this year. Ok... now onto a recap of our small wins and silver-linings and a preview of what we have in store for 2021... mother nature knows we are ready to move forward!
From March to May we were inundated with so much community support. After realizing that many of our event markets were not likely to exist in 2020, we made the decision to start growing vegetables and encouraged our Arvada community to come along for the ride. We had over 200 plants donated to our effort, as well as a workhorse tiller that we have lovingly named Tilly. A handful of fierce women came to the farm in mid-May to help us get all of the plant starts into the ground and just over a month later we were donating our first "fruits" to the Arvada Community Table. By mid-season we had donated nearly 500lbs of produce and we were visited by all of the Denver news stations (9News, Fox31, the Denver Channel and Channel 4 and Mile High Living). Come season's end we had donated over 1200 pounds to several area food banks and will continue our work with our "Garden for Good" in the 2021 season. We are looking for volunteers, if you happen to be interested please reach out.
On the flower front we were thrilled to be able to offer a robust, two season CSA Membership Share program and seeing each member's smiling eyes (we were masked, so there were no full faces!) each week was an absolute highlight for us. With so few places to go and things to do, we loved that we were able to help people break up the monotony and add some color, scent and happiness to their homes.
We were able to host two of our Free (socially distanced) Backyard Composting classes, encouraging community members to try their hand at composting their own kitchen and yard scraps. The response to these classes was so overwhelmingly positive that we plan to host them twice a month (spring through fall) moving forward. We are also working to solidify our partnership with Denver Urban Gardens as a composting education satellite and pumped about posting those dates once they are set.
And now for a preview of what is to come in 2021!
A spring CSA Membership Share program... think tulips, narcissus, peonies, ranunculus and anemones.
Valentine's Day and Mother's Day specials. Even if you don't buy your flowers from us, please consider purchasing locally grown flowers as opposed to those from an online chain. Those flowers are covered in pesticides and flown in from Central and South America... in short, they are not at all sustainable.
30+ new types of flowers, fillers and grasses. I will be previewing the offerings over on Instagram over the next few months, follow us there if you're interested in seeing what's to come.
Multiple pickup locations and limited delivery are both in the works. More details to come.
Farm Dinners! This has been our plan from the start, but COVID placed some roadblocks in our way. We are hopeful that we will be able to host the events that we had originally envisioned in 2021, but have come up with a few modified versions of those plans if social distancing is still needed.
Thank you for being a part of our inaugural year and we look forward to all the growth that 2021 will bring us and you.
Happy New Year! - Krista and Family
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