We bring beauty into your life.
Hi! I'm LaShell the proprietress of Valley View Farm.
What makes "me" who I am is a complex mix of where I've been and lived, my education and life experience. I was born in Iowa but never really lived here as a child. I was raised in California where we spent many an hour in the Sierra Nevada range hiking, riding motorcycles, camping and fishing. I also spent many hours on the lake fishing and enjoying water sports with my family. These "places" are where I gained a true love for the beauty of the outdoors. I'm a hiker and explorer and as a young girl started fishing and that love has followed me through my adult life. My "wanderlust" has taken me to several areas of the world and almost every state in this great country of ours. Whenever I travel, I seek out public gardens and have learned so much about design and growing from those visits.
So fast forward to my adult life. I'm a journalist by education and worked at a corporate job for about 26 years in a capacity that used my education in writing and research. About the time I started my career, I was also "nesting" and creating the home where I lived. Part of that nesting activity quickly grew into designing the landscape and planting the property. I have been a Master Gardener long before anyone even knew what that was! My practical experience in landscaping, installing gardens and growing has taken me far beyond anything I learned as a Master Gardener. I also have taken formal landscape design and participated in many other learning opportunities around the country.
I'm always learning even with 26-plus years of growing experience. Today, I’m a farmer florist.
In 2016, I made a decision that would change my life in a go
od way. I had lost both of my parents at the relatively young ages of 69. This really made me stop and think about how I was living my life. Working all the time and sitting at a desk was not good for me. And more than anything else... the saying that "life is short" hit me like a freight train.
After thinking and intentionally planning for 2 years...I retired early, threw the high heels over the fence and never looked back.
Now what to do?? I had this "farm" that had been in my family for years and started pondering the idea of growing flowers on that land. I took a year to study the industry and other related topics and then took the leap. I also tried to recover from my career and started getting my home landscape into shape. I also traveled during that year. I was always thinking and planning. Then made the decision one day that if I didn’t try this endeavor…I might always regret it and what did I have to loose? When I started growing flowers on scale after that year “off” I knew that I would never wanted to run a huge operation. I just wanted be good at it and I think I have achieved that goal. And most importantly, I wanted to help bring beauty to the lives of people with flowers. I have a special affinity for older people and hope to brighten their days by gifting them flowers. I also love to teach and am looking forward to teaching more when we feel it is safe. And finally, we do not cultivate all of our land because we want to support a healthy ecosystem and give space to all the critters who live at my farm. Today my business has grown to almost where I’d like it to be. I supply flowers to business, florists, restaurants, homes and hospitals.
Some of it is left for now to support the floral and fauna that live on this beautiful piece of land.
I specialize in growing old-fashioned flowers and flowers that "hold" well as cut flowers. Since I work with designers, we grow flowers that many designers (especially wedding and event designers) like to use. But truth be known, the wedding industry has definitely expanded beyond the use of flowers from years ago. So while there are still favorites...just about anything goes these days. When you attend a wedding remember that what the bride wants...the bride gets. Combine that with a talented designer and the sky's the limit! I also use my flowers in my designs and have many that are favorites. Peonies have a special place in my heart and we grow hundreds on our farm and at my city property. The city place alone produces close to 500 blooms per year. I have peonies that were grown on my grandmother’s farm and she died in 1976. It delights me to know I am looking at peony stock she grew. Fragrance often triggers memories and peony is one flower that definitely does this for me. We grow a big smorgasbord of flowers including perennials and annuals. We also grow many "woody shrubs'' that are used in the cut flower world.