The “She Shed” my husband built for me for my 50th birthday has sparked a little flame in me, it has reminded me of all the things that I love so much but have put on the back burner for close to a decade. I’m so grateful for that flame and feel so much more like myself again. Years ago I started a blog and called it Joella’s Attic (named after our babies Jojo and Ella). I had planned to share ideas and inspiration about living in a small space, sewing, gardening, keeping chickens, parenting, etc. I let the blog go when I went back to work full time…life was just so busy with work and young children, and I rarely had or made the time to do very many of the creative things that I loved anymore. Even though I still work full time (and I love my day job), when Jeff built the shed, I had so much fun decorating it, and I began to make the time to be creative again. I love the space we created together and I just love being in it, even if I”m just sitting in it, drinking a cup of tea and dreaming about all of the things that I want to do and make. :)

I decided to start a blog again and immediately wanted to use the name, “Joella’s Attic”, but sadly, the URL had been taken. I came up with the name “Sowing Stitches” instead. I have always loved flowers and even made bouquets and center pieces for a few weddings when I was in my twenties. My love of flowers has always been there, along with dreams of having a “real” farm some day. I also love to sew and make things with paper, etc. “Sowing Stitches” seemed the perfect name to tie all of those things together.

And now we get to “Blooms by Joella”… Like I mentioned, I have always LOVED flowers (don’t most people?!). A few years ago I went to a u-pick at Grace -Hope Flowers and I felt soooo at home walking through her rows of gorgeous flowers. I loved seeing all of the bees and butterflys, the birds, and also watching how happy the farm made everyone that was there fee. So many smiles, and ooh’s and ahh’s, “look at this one”, etc. It was so inspiring. I decided that day that I wanted to learn how to do what she was doing or at least spend some of my time helping. I reached out to see if she needed help during the evening and weekends, but the timing didn’t work out. She was actually moving her farm to San Jose and not needing employees.

I just couldn’t get the feeling that I had when I was at that farm out of my head. We have a very small lot and not much sun, so there is not a ton of growing that I can do at our home, so I decided to lease a couple of beds at our local community garden and just really dig into figuring out how to grow all types of flowers. I figured that I would learn as much as I could and donate the flowers to friends and people in our community, with hopes that some day when the time was right and we had the land, I would have some of the knowledge needed to dive right into creating a flower farm. I did love being at the Community Garden, but gophers kept eating my Dahlia bulbs.

Fast forward a few months , while talking with some friends about growing flowers at the community garden but not being able to sell them and being frustrated that my flowers were not doing so well because of gophers, etc., one of them expressed that she would love for me to grow flowers at her house. She has three acres and loves flowers but does not grow them. Man, how things have a way of working out if you just put it out there! I decided in that moment that I would take the flower course (the Floret Flower Farm online workshop) that I had been thinking about taking for a few years, and to just go for it! I’m so thankful that I did! I truly am so excited every day to grow flowers and to try to grow a business that will hopefully be there and can expand when I am ready to retire. Mostly though, I am just so excited to be around so many beautiful flowers and to share them with our community. There really is nothing like planting a seed, or tuber, or bulb, or a corn, caring for it, and then watching it grow into something so beautiful! It’s pretty amazing, really :)

And so again, I have to thank my husband for such a thoughtful gift that he literally built from the ground up. It really has changed my life and reminded me how important it is to make the time to be creative and to spend time doing the things that you truly love and that really are actually meant for you. I hope this story provides some inspiration to someone who may need it. Its never too late to find and do what you love. :)