About
Little Sparrow Flower Farm was birthed out of a love for beauty, hospitality and the joy of working with hands, soil deep. Sparrows frequent this farm with regular birdsong and birds have been constant companions in the fields as we work. The accompaniment of the creatures both great and small is a reminder of our interdependence within creation. Our way of farming, preferring the mix of hand and simple tools, without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, honors the life of the soil and all its’ microbial creatures. It honors all creatures. Yes, “even the sparrows.”
Our farms’ hope is to get away from using unnecessary mechanization. We continue to expand our knowledge of sustainable practices that lend themselves to ecological health and economic sustainability. Currently we are practicing no-till and cover crop rotation. Always there is much to learn and it is most definitely a humbling enterprise.
Personally, flowers and community braid throughout my story of becoming a farmer. I grew my first plot of flowers on a vacant city lot, bordering Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I was a graduate student, pursuing an MA in Theology, trying to juggle two different jobs, jobs that ultimately birthed my love and desire to be outside and use my hands. I finagled myself into working as a part-time landscaper with very little experience. I found the work of dead-heading azalea bushes and pruning back fruit trees gratifying. I also volunteered with a non-profit close to my house who worked with those marginalized in body and spirit. Through the creative re-imagining of co-laborers we convinced the city to donate truckloads of soil for the purpose of growing food in the neighborhood for community meals. Soon soil was emptied onto the abandoned lot next to my house. Food and flowers began to grow, sustenance and beauty which would grace the tables of our weekly community meals.
I can’t help but return to the story of this empty lot. Maybe it was the stark contrast of beauty in the midst of urban desolation, or the spark that lit up in my spirit when I was in the garden, or the rich community that was built. Maybe it was all of these vignettes woven together which gave birth to my longing to root my body and spirit in place, hands soil deep, tending the land, growing beauty and extending this gift outward.
Within a couple of years of moving back to NC, I moved into an 80-year old house on a plot of old tobacco land. Cultivating flowers was one of the first tasks I set out to do with the owner of the land’s permission and blessing. Flower sales began at a roadside stand and evolved through the years into a weekly subscription and daily pick your own as a way to welcome the community in. The growth has been slow, purposeful, and intentional and has depended on neighbors and friends.
A question I often ask is what it looks like to shift how we grow beauty, whether in our homes, our personal and neighborly spaces, or our gardens, while giving attention to and reflecting the needs of our greater ecology and communities. The slow act and art of growing flowers, while creating beauty, also bears witness to the gift and fruitfulness of the earth. This truth grounds Little Sparrow.
It is a gift to participate in the rhythm of season, soil, and sun and I am grateful for the work of many hands that have made Little Sparrow possible, including Farmer Mark, my partner Scott, Reality volunteers and all of the neighboring community.
