Hi all, my name is Kaity.
My husband Ryan and I worked to purchase and continue the Flowers by Olga story and farm.
In earlier posts Olga’s story as an artist, entrepreneur, and farmer is presented. I fell in love with her story, the person—someone who I am now lucky enough to call a friend—and the work. But, let me back up and tell you a little about myself.
My story
I grew up in Vermont passionate about the arts. I was lucky enough to attend Governor’s Institute of the Arts in 2015 and went on to study studio arts at Johnson State College.
While in college I started working as a gardener for a busy landscape company in Stowe. Plants became my passion. I altered my coursework to include classes such as Horticulture, Plant Biology, Environmental Sciences, Natural History of Vermont, and Forest Management.
I read every book I could get my hands on and learned all I could of both the cultural requirements of many plants and their uses in and out of garden design. I imagined myself landscaping and designing gardens forever.
This provided me with the unique opportunity to work in many people’s gardens, pick their brains about their plant collections, and maintain those collections in a way that encouraged health, vigor, and beauty.
After college I took over that same landscape company and changed its offerings to focus solely on garden design, installation, and maintenance.
Working with Olga
With the birth of my second son the commute to Stowe began to take its toll. I narrowed down my client list and took a part time job working closely with Olga on Raven Ridge Farm because of its proximity to home.
I remember being amazed that the perennial plants I knew so well could hold their own as a salable crop. Forgive my naivety but to me farming meant food.
I couldn’t have been happier to be wrong. Growing flowers not food has always been my passion. I felt like I could do this and make my own gardens as beautiful as I had been making everyone else’s.
In the spring of 2018 Olga confided she would be closing the farm and design studio at the end of the season. We came to an arrangement to keep the business open and my intensive training in floral design began. I worked on every piece that left the design studio that summer under the careful tutoring of Olga.
A fresh start and a new season
Last year we narrowed down our landscaping client list again, jumped into wedding florals and farming with both feet and took on running the flower farm and the design studio full time.
We found we thoroughly enjoyed our first season running the farm and working with brides directly despite some small lapses (ahem, website and blog, ahem).
So here we are; starting seeds, playing catch-up on our website, booking for 2020 wedding season and continuing the adventure that began so many years ago. Please check back often as I will be adding to this story routinely.
