06/18/2024
I don’t identify as q***r.
But my close friends call bolgona.
I love early, often, and intensely, regardless of gender. 🤷🏻♀️
Anyways, Happy Pride Y’all! 🌈
Tova Cotton Flowers
- Home
- United States
- Columbia, VA
- Tova Cotton Flowers
💐 We grow the flowers that delight
🌾 You-Pick Flowers & events
🌈 Find us Farmer's Market
(4)
06/17/2024
Or early in the morning taking the dogs out to p*e!
06/17/2024
Brendan, our 10 year old, observed that mama kitty, Moira audibly sighs when she tries to leave her kitties before they are done nursing.
So relatable, mama. 🐈⬛
06/13/2024
The whole fam, Moira and her babies. ♥️
They are so cute it’s almost painful.
06/11/2024
Join us in a few hours for !
Deepa and I will be there serving up fresh, cool Bouquet Bar, and ALL👏🏼the👏🏼SUNFLOWERS 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
Join us, the market runs 3-6:30 pm. ♥️
06/09/2024
I see it at every market. People walk up to the tent and their eyes light up.
Flowers are ENCHANTING. And they ✨literally✨ make us happier. It’s science! 🤯✨
We will be back at this Tuesday from 3 - 6:30 pm.
Join us!
📷:
06/07/2024
Reminder: We won’t be at this Saturday, June 8th.
We will miss you and will be back the following Saturday. ♥️
06/07/2024
I didn’t go to the dentist for over 18 years. And why I won’t be at this weekend.
As a kid I had mega orthadontia all leading up to a 10 hour jaw surgery.
(Check out my x-rays on pics #2 and 3, it’s all plates, screws and implants!)
Shame got braided into those experiences, and I became phobic about the dentist. Hence why I didn’t go for almost my entire adult life.
About 5 years ago the tooth aches became more overwheming than the fear and I returned to the dentist.
The first few years appointments were pretty horrendous. I needed multiple teeth pulled and SO MANY cavities filled— cue so much more shame. 😭
All the students and doctors at VCU Dental School are exceptional- kind and patient. But one student transformed everything for me.
I explain a lot more in todays email newsletter.
But the short version is that my dental student and I shared similar life experiences and a deep connection.
✨ Over years his empathy and belief in me (and my experience) burned away my shame. ✨
Fast forward to yesterday.
All my cavities are filled and I’ve moved on to the restoration.
I had four implants placed, and a sinus lift. (Because there was no root there my sinus dropped down.)
In my haste to get out the door I forgot my iPods, a critical tool in my dental coping tool box.
AND IT WAS FINE. 🤯🤯🤯
All this to say: We’re not at Mineral Farmers Market this Saturday because I’m a badass facing my fears and recovering. 💪
See you next week, friends! 💗
06/06/2024
🌻 Sunflower PSA! 🌻
The sunflowers are POPPING! We harvest them almost closed, like the sunflower on the left so they last as long as possible for you.
If you buy them when they are mostly closed they will fully open for you, and will last much longer.
06/05/2024
Moira’s babies have been born and are opening their eyes!
They are the most darling little guys. 😍
06/04/2024
Long story short- Tova Cotton will not be at Mineral Farmer's Market this Saturday, June 8th.
I'm having some procedures on Thursday.
More details in this Friday's email newsletter.
(Link to sign up for newsletter: https://www.tovacotton.com/email-sign-up-50-off-one-you-pick )
05/30/2024
My goof is your win, !
I have one more bucket of PEONIES, and I will bring them this Saturday.
(They have been stored super cold, and will last well for you.)
In addition, the first of the seasons SUNFLOWERS, and so many other lovelies!
Come see us, Saturday, 8 am - Noon. ♥️
05/29/2024
We got to bring our flower experience to Richmond yesterday! It was our first day at .
Our bouquet bar got a huge upgrade thanks to our friend and neigbor Kim of .
Kim is lending us a flower stand which makes the bouquet making process so much more streamlined. And isn’t it gorgeous!?
And for those of you on our email list- as anticipated I did slip and greet people with “good morning” the first few times. 🤭 (I haven’t done an afternoon market in years, I’m rusty on non-morning greetings.)
Thanks for all the fun customers and vendors. We loved meeting you and can’t wait to see y’all again in JUNE! 🌻
05/29/2024
They are FINALLY here! 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
We will have sunflowers again this Saturday at !
Come see us from 8 am - Noon, Saturday.
📷:
05/29/2024
Meet The Farm Crew Monday!
Meet Marty!
Marty is a magician of organization and spreadsheets, working during the week in corporate America, and parenting the sweetest teenage boy.
On Sundays she joins us here and rocks our world with her innovations and hard work. 💗🌱
05/26/2024
This is the last week for these luscious ladies, Peonies.
Make a plan and come see us at a market and MAKE your own Bouquet this week:
💐: Saturday from 8 am - Noon at
💐: Tuesday from 3:30 - 6:30 pm at
05/22/2024
Big news! Farm kitty, Moira, is having KITTENS!
When we got her and her sister we were told they were spayed. So we were surprised as she got rounder and rounder.
animal.hospital confirmed our suspicion. And from the x-rays it looks like she might have four babies.
She is due any day, and should have them within the next 10 days.
Do not fear both she and her kittens will be fixed as soon as they are physically able.
05/20/2024
We couldn’t attend Goochland Day because we were at . But thanks to the we were able to be there in flowers. 💐
Carol of the Goochland Chamber invited us to make bouquets for the tables in their tent.
Friend of the farm, Cynthia, used our flowers and made 6 beautiful arrangements.
Oakie and I delivered them. 💗💐
📷:
05/09/2024
You know what makes the best Mother’s Day present?
Something you MAKE! 🫶🏽 💐
It’s not too late!
Join us Saturday (Mother’s Day is Sunday) from 8 am - Noon, Mineral Farmer's Market and MAKE the mom’s in your life a bouquet at our ✨ BOUQUET BAR! ✨
Just get yourself to our booth and we will show you how. It’s easy and you can’t get it wrong with these gorgeous flowers.
See you there! 💗💐
05/07/2024
Take a moment and think about this:
🌸 What would you do if you were no longer afraid? 🌸
This week on the newsletter we discussed fear.
And how avoiding fear can feel safe and comfortable but really is a slow death.
We have to learn to live with fear to grow and become the people we want to be.
By asking this question- (what would you do if you were no longer afraid?) we get a glimpse at what we really want.
What do you really want?
Intrigued by a flower farm newsletter that dabbles in juicy.
Click here to sign up. https://www.tovacotton.com/email-sign-up-50-off-one-you-pick 💗
04/29/2024
Meet The Crew Monday!
Meet Marian. ♥️
When I refer to the “we” of Tova CottonI am not including a 🐭 in my pocket I am referring to Marian. 😆♥️
She is the President of the Rapid Ann Garden Club, a Master Gardener, and mom to Gracie (see the second photo). 🐶 💗
Marian does so many things for TC that she has no succinct title. We would LOVE suggestions!
Marian does a myriad of things, research, product development, emails, spreadsheets, HR. She is involved from the most minute details to our big picture vision.
She showed up in my life a few months after Karin announced her retirement. Marian has been fundemental in this transisition and now is indispensable for every day operations.
What should Marian’s official title be? Reply below and let us know.
04/29/2024
💯
04/24/2024
Volunteer Day was a hit!
🌻 Thank you to all that came and spent the morning with us. The work we did Sunday will set us up for a summer of blooms! 🌸
04/15/2024
Do you enjoy gardening?
Do you want to connect with likeminded people?
Want a free ticket to our Pick Your Own Flower Meadow?
No experience needed, just a willingness to get down in the dirt.
Come join us this Sunday, April 21st starting at 10 am.
We will provide lunch, laughs, and connection!
And you’ll walk away with a full belly, new friends, and a great day in the sunshine. PLUS a ticket to Pick Your Own Flowers good for when we open.
Let me know if you want to join on Sunday, April 21st by sending me a direct message.
Let me know as soon as possible. We are limiting the amount of people so that everyone can get hands on direction.
04/14/2024
SAMMMMMEEE, Edna. 💕
04/09/2024
🌖 Oakie and I sowed sunflowers on Eclipse day! That must be auspicious, right? 🌖
We sowed 120 Peach, 120 Orange Excel, 120 Gold Lite, and 50 Soroya (she branches- puts out as many as 25 sunflowers per plant).
In other news- does anyone need any little kid chairs? As you can see we have a glut of them, waiting on a new home, on the porch.
12/04/2023
When I started gardening I had little kids, livestock, and dogs, all which could merp sh*t up in my garden.
My solution was to build a fenced garden that could ward off these havoc wreakers.
But now the only livestock are two mild mannered ducks, the kids are older, and the kitties are gentle on the beds.
The fenced garden needs a new purpose.
We are opening up the meadow area of the farm to You Pick Flower events.
How would you like to engage with the fenced garden while you're visiting?
👧🏽 A children’s garden with a tunnel from the You Pick field?
🧘🏻♀️ A perennial mediation garden?
💖 A space for premium flowers with limited picking?
✨ Let me know in the comments. ✨
11/28/2023
Dahlias are SO gorgeous. But are so difficult to dig and store over the winter.
But there is another way!
Read more on our blog.
11/27/2023
It is definitely not zucchini season in the northern hemisphere.
🌻🌻🌻 BUT this is almost exactly what a sunflower seed does as it germinates. 🌻🌻🌻
Those big chonky seeds are SO satisfying!!
11/24/2023
I need your input friends. How should Tova Cotton proceed in the next year?
Some background:
When Karin and I started Tova Cotton we weren’t sure what we wanted this business to be. We loved growing and we were seeking a broader sense of connection.
Beyond that we let it evolve, turns out we were on to something.
One of my favorite non fiction re-reads is Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic.”
She says “Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us—albeit strangely.
Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will.
Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest.
And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner.”
I recently came across a similar idea about business in the book “No Bullsh*t Strategy”.
The author, Alex M H Smith, says that established businesses have a consciousness of their own.
Businesses don’t follow the wishes of their managers but instead they have their own force and will. They seek to serve communities needs!
A business is successful because it finds its way in the world. It shifts to fit the needs and wants of the community.
My insights in an upcoming post, but first I want to hear from you.
How does interacting with Tova Cotton enhance your life? * Comment below. * 💅♥️
Address
4603 Shannon Hill Road
Columbia, VA
23038
Opening Hours
| Monday | 9am - 6pm |
| Tuesday | 9am - 6pm |
| Wednesday | 9am - 6pm |
| Thursday | 9am - 6pm |
| Friday | 9am - 6pm |
| Saturday | 9am - 6pm |
| Sunday | 9am - 6pm |
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Videos
This Sunday, May 12th is MOTHER’S DAY! Come visit us at Mineral Farmer's Market. Get your mom, yourself, AND the moms in your life a beautiful bunch of locally grown Tova Cotton Flowers! 💐
One of the big projects we have been working on is a big, beautiful landscaped bed for folx to relax in. This video shows the before and what we plan to turn it into!
Late afternoon unboxing. It’s been a LONG and productive week. Can you tell I’m tired? 🥱♥️
The Pick Your Own Meadow has (the beginnings of) a driveway!
Sunflowers! 🌻
Calendars are hard, and brothers are wonderful.
Unboxing this weeks seedling delivery! 🌱🌱🌱 I don’t know why the video has no sound. Follow along in the captions. If you want to hear the audio you can find it here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4gqwslu35C/?igsh=ZGUwZnh4YTE1OTR4
Need to flower your wedding on a budget? Consider our Design It Yourself buckets!
The bumblebees have a new hang out spot. [Video: Bumblebees enjoying bright pink cockscomb Celosia. It’s Brenda Jordan Heirloom variety from @southernexposureseed ] 🐝 🌸 🐝 🌸 🐝 #southernexposureseedexchange #bumblebee #pollinators #brendajordancelosia #celosia #cockscomb #bentcastleflowers
🔊🔊 Volume up! 🔊🔊 The buckwheat cover crop in the new garden is literally humming with bees. [Video: A short video of the buckwheat cover crop in our newest garden area. The buckwheat has small white flowers on bright green stems. Bees can be seen and heard buzzing from flower to flower.] 🐝 🦟 🐝 🕷 🐝 🐛 #pollinatorhabitat #makinghabitat #flowerfarm #bugsonfleurs #buckwheat #covercrop #bentcastleflowers #buildingafarm
Duckling update. ♥️ 🦆 🐥 [Video: The ducklings and mama in the duck arc, scooting around and enjoying the fresh grass and clover. We move them once a day so they always have fresh digs.] 🦆 🐥 🌻 ♥️ #ducklings #muscovyduck #raisedbymama #bentcastleflowers #tickcontrol #flycontrol #onpasture
First bath! 🛀♥️ (My #mindfulnessbell is making an annoying noise in the beginning of the video, but there are cute ducking splashing noises part way through.) [Video: Our brand new brown and yellow Muscovy ducklings first bath. ♥️ They are taking turns getting in a rubber trough to swim and play.] 🐣 🦆 🐤 💦 #muscovyduck #tickcontrol #flowerfarm #bentcastleflowers
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