Handpicked Homestead

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Handpicked Homestead

Fresh flowers grown sustainably on Vashon Island. Market-style bouquets available seasonally. Becau
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01/23/2024

So honored to be a guest on Jen’s podcast The Flowering Farmhouse! Thank you for inviting me, Jen. Loved chatting with you and I’m so excited your podcast is sharing the beauty of growing flowers!

10/17/2023

Everything is greening up around here - lots of rain lately. I always love how it beads up on hypericum leaves (and madrone leaves too!)

10/15/2023

Just my red wagon full of dahlias…

This season is trucking on and i am happy to report no frost warnings in the ten day forecast. Keep blooming, my lovelies!

10/02/2023

Vashon - come see us THIS SATURDAY at the Dahlia Wall! Alyssa .alyssum.farm and I are sharing dahlia beauty with you!

DAHLIA WALL AT CIDERFEST
Where: Vashon Village
17205 Vashon Hwy SW

When: Sat Oct 7 from 10-4

What: Bring your camera or hand us your phone - we’ll snap your photo in front of the Dahlia Wall!

Donations accepted to benefit VIGA’s Food Access Partnership - this allows our community to access locally-grown produce from Vashon farms!

Come see us and please share this post to spread the word!❤️

09/15/2023

The air is a bit more crispe and I had my first instance two days ago where I wished for a hat. Autumn is creeping closer…are you excited or wanting more summer?

06/09/2023

When you meet an artist who can create beauty that makes your heart sing…

I love cultivating flowers but the fact that Carolina of can CREATE flowers…her work takes my breath away. True perfection - her flowers, the colors she uses and the ceramic texture all combine to become a masterpiece.

It was an honor to provide flowers for her studio opening last weekend and be sure to stop in this weekend as well!

Photography by Carolina Silva

06/02/2023

An evening harvest and I may be biased, but these are the best shoes I’ve had in a long time…

05/25/2023

Every time I walk past the front door (which is a lot because I have four kids so tons of driving them around!) - I stop to enjoy these red poppies.

More and more keep popping and I realize it was truly a gift to see their caps releasing last week (see previous reel). Now in the heat they go from closed to open so quickly I don’t see the cap halfway on - but it is a fun surprise to look over and notice a new bloom has joined the mix. What bloom is bringing you delight right now?

03/13/2023

Did you know that all these types of narcissus exist? And there are so many more! These are the ones I grow.

Narcissus are a favorite of mine - deer don’t eat them, and their bulbs multiply underground, so you get more blooms over time!

The best way to harvest daffodils is to pick them! Grip the stem low, close to ground level, and pull! Usually stem that is several inches below ground will come up giving a nice long stem length.

If you don’t grow narcissus, I recommend adding it to your list and tracking down bulbs. Which one here is your favorite?

03/13/2023

11/26/2022

Soaking up the dried flower love these days…I’m happy to have these forever remnants of summer…

11/25/2022

Grateful for the time with my family yesterday - and more to come with my in-laws this weekend! ❤️ Today is a lovely day to pause and slow down. We’ll do some more baking, and begin packing up all our autumn decorations to clean our home to ready it for Advent and Christmas adornment. What does your day after Thanksgiving look like?

11/24/2022

So thankful for the bounty of the garden rows, the chance to partner with creation, and to YOU for supporting local growers.

We are all meant to share beauty and I count it a blessing every day that I get to do this. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. I am thankful for you!

11/20/2022

What a fun day at Holly Daze bazaar yesterday! I enjoyed meeting so many new people. Vashon is wonderful!

Thank you to all who entered my wreath giveaway. Barb H, you won this Dusty Miller wreath - I will email you to arrange pickup.

Huge thanks to for organizing this event. All her hard work pays dividends for both the school and the greater community. Thank you, Jenny!

11/17/2022

Hard to believe this was only six weeks ago. Short sleeves and blooms are long gone, replaced by warm layers and tuber dividing.

Usually I welcome the changing of the seasons but this year it’s been a little harder. Part of it comes from being spread more thinly in daily life. It’s hard when I am not where I want to be in my to do list or goals accomplished. But part of growth and part of being a family is accepting what others need - and saying okay with joy to a different plan than the one in my head. So no, I won’t be done dividing by Dec 1st. And it’s okay to let go of that deadline.

Say no to something good so I can say yes to something better - this time isn’t going to come back - what is truly the best way to spend it? I know four littles who have a lot of ideas to share with me to answer that question.❤️

11/15/2022

Linda’s Baby was new to me this year and a total powerhouse. Tons of blooms from season’s start to finish. Never faded and while a few stems weakened very late in the season, plenty stayed strong as well. Linda earned her place in the row and I’m excited for more of these blooms in 2023.

I haven’t dug this variety yet but hoping to offer Linda’s Baby tubers for sale this spring! Be sure you’re on the email list (link in bio👆🏻) so you get early access!

11/12/2022

Remembering buckets of dahlia blooms keeps me motivated for the less-glamorous side of growing them: digging & splitting effort currently well underway!

11/11/2022

Gerrie Hoek is a prolific bloomer with easy long stems. It is a waterlily form dahlia. I’d like to try more of this style. Do you grow any water lily dahlias that you recommend?

11/09/2022

Wine-eyed Jill makes the cut for growing again next year. Much of the season it looks like this - and has a slightly dark center that grows as the bloom ages (I love dahlias that look better with age!)

Once the temperature and day length begin to change, this variety turns as soft yellow. It’s a remarkable shift but I enjoy both ways it blooms. Long strong stems, prolific flowering - definitely coming back in 2023!

11/07/2022

It’s strange to cut down all the plants now, remembering how gorgeous they were. This photo is like a thought bubble my head, even though the weather is cold and wet and I’m kneeling in mud, then carrying armloads of tired greenery to compost. This is how it stays in my mind

11/05/2022

Looking forward to a long day out in the dahlia rows today. Well, long for me. I usually get one or two hour periods here and there, but today is a glorious Saturday with nothing scheduled except flower jobs - a rare treat!

11/04/2022

We’ve got some crazy rain & wind going today, so I needed a reminder of the balmy, bloomy days of summer - remember those days on days like these!

I’m hoping to get a few hours outside this morning to cut down more plants and hope to start digging tubers this weekend.

10/30/2022

Labyrinth was new for me this season and easily became my favorite. The colors, the twirls…it’s a great size…I was happy with the amount of blooms that came. A must-grow!

I hope to have Labyrinth tubers available to sell this spring - my email subscribers get first access to shop so be sure to sign up on my website. (Link in bio👆🏻)

10/27/2022

Tearing our rows but I skipped over the strawflowers. It’s been so wet so I’m not sure if I can get one last harvest from them, but they’ve done great this season and I have loved drying them!

10/26/2022

Working on the dahlia plan for next year. Who stays, who goes. Planting map. I definitely have my favorites and a good list of varieties that I hope to add!

10/22/2022

This may be the last bouquet of the season? It is just so hard to say goodbye…

10/21/2022

A selection of oranges & peaches -
these are my favorite colors in the field.

10/20/2022

This is the little piece of heaven I grow on. (Photo from earlier this summer).

Address

19804 107th Avenue SW
Vashon, WA
98070

Website

http://www.handpickedhomestead.com/

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Videos

A vision of fall - this might be my favorite bouquet I have ever made? I’m a fall girl for sure - these rich hues are just where my heart lies…

The sweet simplicity of these violas, combined with a heap of nostalgia, make them a true treasure. My husband’s maternal grandmother loved pansies, especially blue ones. I’m so blessed to have known her - she was an amazing woman of strength and our second daughter is named for her. This one’s for you, Nanna Ellie.💙

What a beautiful day to spend yesterday at the Farmhouse Flower Farm. It was lovely to get off the island and enjoy the company of Marryn @thefarmhouseflowerfarm and Jen @thefloweringfarmhouse It was a dahlia pinching marathon with a few breaks to ogle the sweet peas.😍 Have you done all your pinching yet? Head over to my blog to read my tips on dahlia pinching if you’re new to the practice, (link in bio☝🏻) or feel free to send questions my way!

Just a few purples that have graced the rows this season. As a Coug, purple doesn’t come naturally for me but purple fans, I am here for you and I am trying!😂🙌🏻 What’s your favorite purple flower or dahlia cultivar - help me make a list!