JOYFUL GRATITUDE #193
I rarely buy cut flowers because their social and environmental impact makes me cringe. Usually I am content with my many potted plants or, if I really crave a burst of colour, a small bouquet of wild flowers picked on the fly.
However last week I treated myself to a large bouquet with a clean conscience at Lokale Bloemetjes, a self-pick farm next to the CSA where I get my veggies from in the West of Amsterdam. It was wonderful to stroll through row upon row of different flowers, grown without chemicals, taking the time to observe each one before deciding whether or not to add it to my bouquet, all the while knowing this supports a local business contributing to increase biodiversity.
Once back home, I sorted the flowers by similar colours and popped them inexpertly into glass tomato-sauce jars that I had lying around and they’ve been doing an amazing job at brightening up several corners of my flat on these first rainy autumn days.
Cultivating joy 
It’s good to know you have access to a CSA and to those flowers, too. You would love what some people who live here are doing – they set up a table near the road and fill jars with flowers they have grown, with a sign saying how much money to leave. Whether they use chemicals on their gardens, I don’t know, but the impact must be far, far less than commercially grown and transported flowers. We also have a small CSA in town. So far I have not joined but once a week they sell all the extra veggies to the public. That works for me! 🙂
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Thanks very much for your message. That sounds so lovely! I really love when people sell things from their gardens like jam or veggies based on trust:-) I’ve never seen people sell bouquets but that sounds like such a beautiful treat! Glad you can get extra veggies too. I am so grateful for these initiatives that regenerate the earth instead of depleting it! ❤
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Yes!
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