FLORENCE — We can oftentimes find ourselves working stressful jobs with our face down in a screen for a large portion of the day.
But every now and then, we meet someone who decides to take a step back -- for another hard working, yet quieter job and life. MTN News caught up with a local farmer who’s done just that and has harvested a little chunk of heaven in the Bitterroot.
Bess Brownlee was living in Seattle and working in social work. She was burned out and she found herself wanting to connect with nature. So, she decided to move to Montana and on a quarter acre of her parent’s land, she created a flower farm to make a change.
“I really love seeing the fruits of labor out here. You take a seed and you put it in the ground and then in a couple months’ time, you get all of this – which is really rewarding," Brownlee said.
Six months ago the land was bare but, now Brownlee has over 40 varieties of flowers.
“I’ve connected with really great local whole sale here, so I bring a lot of local flowers in and designers, flowers shops and folks that work with flowers buy locally all those blooms from farmers around the valley.”
Brownlee was able to have her garden continuously produce beautiful flowers throughout spring, summer and fall.
"Our first flowers show up in early springtime with tulips and daffodils in late April, late May here in Montana. Flowers keep going when we have frost in October typically. You can have a variety of beautiful local flowers for a long span of time from late frost to first frost," said Brownlee
Brownlee did not start off on her own, she had taken classes and still continues to pick the brains of other farmers. Southbound Flowers offers services for weddings, events or wholesale.
You can find more information about Southbound Flowers on their website or their Instagram.
