week 12: if you get a chance, take it
this week on the little dream farm
Earlier in the week via our Instagram Stories I mentioned something awesome happened this week and called out for guesses as to what it could be. I prefaced this, though, by saying it was unlikely anyone would guess it.
It was an unfair question, really, because when we woke up Monday morning and started our day, this was not anywhere on our radar!
For all of you awaiting an animal-related story, may I let you down easy here…it’s not an animal(s). And for those of you who guessed I’m pregnant…Chris and I got hitched…or that we won the lottery…well nope, none of those things either!
There’s a line that is part of a much longer quote I heard when I was a teen and have held onto tightly ever since. I’ll share the full quote at the end of this Farm Note, but when I read it aloud I always get choked up at this one line:
If you get a chance, take it.
If it changes your life, let it.
So here’s the story.
Monday morning I made a call to a peony farm in Alaska.
I’ve been daydreaming of peony fields as of late and wanting to plant a smaller-scale display peony garden with lots of varieties as well as a small starter field of some of my favorite varieties in groupings.
How or why did this little daydream begin? Honestly? I don’t know.
What I do know is when the four peonies David left for us in the Big Garden came into bloom last Spring, it was love at first sight for me.
Prior to being mesmerized by those gorgeous blooms, I’m not even sure I could have correctly identified a peony, which I thought I’d feel embarrassed to admit, but you just don’t know what you don’t know…and we all begin somewhere, right?!
Ok so now that I know that I love these magical flowers blooming in our spring garden, I want—or maybe more accurately I need—more of them in my life. Can’t really explain it, I just do.
I picked out this farm in Alaska to place a large order of roots after discovering the farm in a book and then feeling drawn to their story and their farm. And yes, I ordered a small collection of books solely about peonies that I’ve been pouring through lately.
Maybe I feel drawn to this farm in Alaska because of the woman who owns it. On their website she has an abundance of information all written by her personally from her almost 20 years of experience—stuff that I’d pay good money to learn—about selecting varieties, field layout, irrigation, fertilizing, winter care, harvesting flowers, bloom storage, vase life, and so much more. I couldn’t believe they’d shared all this information so freely but I devoured every single inch of their website and learned a ton.
So Monday I make the call to ask a few questions before placing this order and a woman answers the phone. It’s the woman who owns the farm.
She’s pleasant and seems as if she genuinely wants to answer my questions. Our call reception was spotty at best and she tells me she’s not in a spot where she’d have good service so I tell her I’ll call back in a few hours.
About an hour or so later I realized I’d called her at 4:30am her time! How silly of me! I was so eager to place the order I completely forgot about the time difference!
I call back midday and she answers the phone with better reception. After I apologize for the super early morning call she tells me it happens almost daily and they’re all always up early and were already working on the farm anyhow. I then asked a few questions and we made some small talk before she shared with me that her husband passed away just ten days prior.
It was starting to feel like our call was about more than just flowers, and while I offered that this could all wait until another time, she said the call was a welcome distraction.
As our conversation weaved from life and family to gardening and farming and we were wrapping up our call, I mentioned I never saw myself here…here meaning on the phone with a flower farm in Alaska placing a large order for peony roots to chase some whimsy in my head.
“Me either,” she replied, referring to her life as a peony farmer, and we both had a good laugh.
For me, it was that kind of deep belly laugh that you get when something really resonates with your soul. Like that maybe this little whimsy isn’t just whimsical at all. Surely this woman on the other and of the phone and 4,500 miles away could relate.
She shared with me that she’d worked in commercial real estate development for years prior to starting this farm in Alaska. She said she tells other people that peonies are a passion but that really, she’s possessed.
Possessed.
I suppose that’s my affliction. Possessed by the peony.
Out of sheer curiosity I ask if she ever has growers come to her farm.
“Yes, and we have a guest house we don’t charge people to stay in while they’re here,” she said. “The only thing we ask while you’re here is that you help us work on the farm.”
“July would be the best time to come,” she continued effortlessly.
It struck me that she used “you.” Like a casual invitation.
And in a dizzying minute my call to inquire about roots turned into a possible trip to Alaska.
My mind goes there instantly…picturing myself surrounded by the mountains and blue water and her sprawling green peony fields lush with blooms in the 22-hours of summer sun daylight.
She mentioned when she was learning to grow peonies, she took several trips to the Netherlands to stay and work on farms for her learning.
July could actually work, I think to myself, knowing we’d have to shuffle a number of things around to swing it. And I’ve never been to Alaska.
She asks me to send her an email so she can confirm the availability of the guest house for July and before we hang up the phone she says,
“Ok Sarah, now go have some fun!”
Chris, the amazingly supportive and unselfish partner he is says, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You have to do it!” when I bring it up to him that day.
A reply email comes the next day from the farmer, “I just looked at the Farm House schedule,” she writes. “July is wide open. You pick the dates.”
So Chris and I take to our laptops to see what we can find.
Now, for a week in mid-July during Alaska’s peak peony season, thanks to some airline and hotel points we had socked away, I’ll be spending the week in Alaska working on a peony farm with a woman I’ve come to admire and who, no doubt, I’m connected to for some reason that I can’t yet place.
I was sure to thank the farmer while we were on the phone for all the information she so freely shares. I told her I would have paid good money for what she shared for free and she talked about how she doesn’t view sharing knowledge as competition. Not only is there enough to go around for all of us, she said, but that one farm alone can’t possibly supply the world with all the peonies. I made a mental note of the ways I want to adopt more of this mentality in my own life.
I sent the her my travel itinerary and thanked her for such an incredible opportunity. She replied that she was heading out of the country for a while to try and recover, as she put it, but that they were excited I’m coming.
My heart is heavy for her and her family but I’m hoping she can find the peace she’s surely needing right about now.
As for me? Well…excited doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Like I said in the beginning…the call for guesses was unfair, because even I, as of Monday morning, had no idea something like this might be in store.
How fitting that David, the very person who left those four gorgeous peonies behind in the garden for us, was the same person who said to me just several weeks ago while we were together in Florida, “When there’s a crack in the door, have the courage to open it up and see what’s behind it.”
And the words that’ve been dancing around in my head all week are:
If you get a chance, take it.
If it changes your life, let it.
Here’s that quote in full:
“If this year has taught me anything, it is that you should go with the flow, take chances, and be spontaneous. Party until the sun comes up, push the envelope, and dare to dream. Best friends are the only way to keep you sane and allow you to go crazy all at the same time. The pieces eventually fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion and live for the moment. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. So, love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said it would be easy. They just promised it would be worth it.”
Wow! This does sound exciting. Soak up everything about the trip. And take lots of pics of those beautiful blooms to share. Like I had to say that 😂
So excited to hear about your trip and see what you come home with 🌺