The Mission Behind BloomSky Farm

Throughout my professional career, I've been drawn to organizations with a purpose I could stand behind.

I spent years working in sustainable building, climate innovation and leadership development. When I stepped away from corporate life to start my own business, I found incredible purpose in helping service-based businesses become more profitable and assisting their leaders in building sustainable companies for themselves, their employees and their families.

And then in 2023, I started the flower farm.

I've loved growing things since I was a child. I have memories of planting seeds from grocery store tomatoes, nurturing those little plants and being thrilled when they actually fruited. I remember visiting a neighbor's beautiful vegetable garden and being amazed by the abundance, picking fruit from our orange and grapefruit trees, and eventually planting my own little garden. As an adult, I grew flowers, fruits and vegetables to enjoy, but also to share.

When I began thinking about starting a flower farm, I knew from the beginning that simply selling bouquets wasn't really what interested me. Flowers are beautiful and I certainly love sharing them, but I wanted the farm itself to have a purpose. I wanted to create something where generosity was woven into the way it worked. And so that's where Grow to Give began.

The idea came from our daughter, Kat. During the COVID pandemic, she was serving as a medic in the Air Force and was assigned to Carlin House Assisted Living in Logan. Like so many assisted living communities during that time, residents spent months separated from the people they loved. She would call me and we would talk about how difficult the isolation was for them. We wondered what it would be like if they had something simple, like fresh flowers, to brighten their days.

Those conversations stayed with me, and when BloomSky Farm started, we decided that for every bouquet purchased, we would gift another bouquet back into our community. Over the years, those flowers have gone to assisted living communities, hospice organizations, homeless shelters, and other local partners.

Sometimes flowers are dismissed as unnecessary because they aren't practical. I understand that. They aren't food or medicine or something someone needs to get through the day, but I've also watched what happens when someone unexpectedly receives flowers. There's surprise, a smile, gratitude, and then often they tell me where they're going to put them. Sometimes they share a memory associated with flowers from their childhood or another moment in their life. It's the very best part of my week.

This July is our second year participating in Hocking Hills Gives Back. Throughout the month, 10% of every bouquet sold will support the Southeast Ohio Foodbank. It's another way for Grow to Give to expand as the farm grows.

I don't know exactly what Grow to Give will look like ten years from now. I hope we're able to partner with more organizations, share more flowers and find new ways to support the community that has supported us.

What I do know is that BloomSky wasn't built first and then given a mission. The mission came first, and the flowers became the way we carry it out.