LAKEWOOD, Colo. — In a year filled with zoom calls and FaceTimes, a walk around Blossom and Branch Farm in Lakewood feels like an escape.
Briana Bosch opened the farm three years ago, spending hours each day gardening to grow beautiful flowers in a sustainable way.
"To come and have your hands on something I think was really life changing for a lot of people," said Bosch. "We’re a regenerative flower farm. We focus on sequestering carbon, growing our soil and providing a habitat for pollinators."
The pandemic has forced businesses across the state to make changes to make ends meet. When people began cancelling weddings last year, the impact was felt by everyone in the industry. That includes the Blossom and Branch Farm.
Before the pandemic, most of the business at the farm came from selling flower arrangements for weddings. Then the pandemic shut it all down. What came next forced them to change, something so many other small business owners have had to do this year.
Now Bosch gets to share her love of flowers with others. The gardening and flower arrangement classes keep the farm open and help the visitors escape into a world filled with color and peace.
"We decided to start doing classes. People got really interested in growing things because they were at home so much, so people wanted to learn how to garden," said Bosch. "I could see a change in people. They got happier, people relaxed. Even with the masks on, you could feel like people were unwinding."
The classes help keep the farm open and give Bosch a chance to share her gardening knowledge with others.
There are days when there are still more flowers than customers. The number of weddings still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic days.
"There’s no one else to cut the flowers, and they have to get cut," said Bosch. "Even if there’s no sales for our flowers, if we stop cutting them, they stop producing. We have to go out and cut them whether someone is going to buy them or not."
The weather this past year has also created challenges, especially with the early September snow.
It wasn’t the year they were expecting. But the flowers will keep on growing.
"None of us were prepared, but it just shows human nature how quickly a lot of us can pivot and keep growing and thriving," said Bosch.
The farm also hosts farm stands on Saturdays to sell their flowers.
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