Nourishing the soul. Nourishing the soil.
The mission of Spring Creek Blooms is to grow and share beautiful flowers with our human community while co-creating habitat for our other-than-human community, upon which we are hopelessly and gloriously dependent, both in body and spirit. Our logo represents the native Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa, which provides food for dozens of native insects, and happens to be my mother’s favorite flower.
Meet your farmer
I’m Susanna. Raised up by the Blue Ridge, I’ve loved the land of central Virginia my whole life, and though I’ve spent time on farms from Ohio down to Patagonia, I’ve always had an internal compass pointing back home. I discovered the vocation of small-scale ecological farming at a crucial time in my life when the big stories of climate change and human disconnection threatened to overtake my spirit with fear. This work daily reaffirms what I have always known to be true: that we are of the earth, and that our happiness and wholeness are rooted in the soil. In 2020 I decided to move back to the family farm, and with the help and support of friends and family, began the journey of growing flowers.
The local difference
The global floral supply chain is a long one. The life of a typical rose traveling to central Virginia might look like this: 1) Grown in Colombia 2) Harvested, handled, and packed 3) Purchased by broker 4) Trucked to airport 5) Flown to U.S. 6) Trucked to wholesaler in Maryland 7) Trucked to Florist or Grocery Store 8) Purchased by you.
In this process, not only does the carbon footprint of the rose balloon but the flower gets handled in some form at least 8 times and spends a significant portion of its valuable vase life in transit. Flowers from our farm are fresh and often unique from anything you’ll find at a grocery store or traditional florist.
When you buy from Spring Creek Blooms, the life of the cut flower looks like this: 1) Grown at the farm 2) Harvested 3) Purchased by you.
This Land is Whose Land?
I belong to the land, not the other way around. And people have belonged to it for thousands of years. The land we cultivate at Spring Creek Blooms was once a part of the collective territory of the Monacan Nation, many of members of which now reside at Bear Mountain in Amherst County, VA. My ancestors participated in the destruction of communities who had cultivated a sustained relationship with this land for thousands of years. 30 years ago, my grandparents bought Spring Creek Farm, then passed it on to my parents, who have dedicated themselves to stewarding Spring Creek as a sanctuary for native plants and wildlife.
I seek, in this work of growing flowers, to remember my belonging to a webbed and wise world, beginning with my own partnership with Spring Creek and its interwoven communities, past, present, and future.
“Beauty – be not caused – It Is.”
— Emily Dickinson
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