One of the most magical parts of buying a new home in the winter was watching the property wake up in the spring and discovering all of the birds, insects, and other animals who live here with us. One of the most special creatures we share our land with is a beautiful blue heron. When thinking about what to name our farm I kept coming back to the heron. Herons are typically thought of as patient, lone hunters, but they come together in the hundreds to nest and raise their young. The individual heron represents self-reliance and self-determination - their thin, long legs show that an individual does not need massive pillars of support to forge their own path, stand on their own, and be strong – while the colony represents the strength of the community - that when it comes to ensuring the success of the next generation the task is too important to be left to the individual. This combination resonated deeply with us. We are committed to being an integral part of the community while we are striking out by ourselves into the unknown. Not unlike the blue heron, we have waited for the perfect opportunity to build our dream and want to bring our friends, family, and neighbors along for the journey.

In January 2020, John (he/his) and Rachel (she/her) Furniss purchased our hopefully forever home in North Yarmouth- a beautiful yellow house on a hill. While we are currently growing organic specialty flowers on only a 1/4 acre we plan to expand each year throughout our 6 acre property. Rachel has always loved flowers and nature and flowers have always been a part of our relationship. We met at Elon University through the Outdoor Adventure program and spent much of our first years as a couple outside together in the North Carolina mountains and coast on our own and helping others get outside. Before moving to Maine we lived in Brooklyn for several years and were neighbors, members, and weekly visitors of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. Our apartments and houses have always been filled with flowers Rachel practiced arranging from the grocery store.

When John decided to pursue a career in Forestry and attend the University of Maine for graduate school they moved to Orono where John studied, Rachel worked remotely, we started a cut flower garden and welcomed our first daughter Ella (now almost 3). After a year of trying to figure things out on our own Rachel took a leap and signed up for the Floret Workshop in 2020. Using her new knowledge they expanded their garden and grew many more varieties of flowers and had a small road side stand. As John's program wrapped up we knew we wanted to be closer to Portland and started looking for homes with acreage that would be suitable for flower farming. We took 2021 as a year to acclimate ourselves to our new home, welcome our second child Max, and grow a few flowers for ourselves, family and friends. Being able to share the beauty, peace, and joy flowers can bring with others is such a gift and we can't wait to do so with more people in our community.