martha

I've never met Martha Stewart in person. Well, once I ran into her at the flower market early with Kevin Sharkey. It was early, but I swear to god she smiled at me. She was very tall.

I've done a lot of work for Martha in the last few years, or it feels like it. And I am very thankful for that. The first time Weddings contacted me to do a flower feature Eric and I opened a bottle of champagne. It was surreal.

Since that feature 3 years ago I've been at the MS headquarters a handful of times. There's always o lot of friendly people around, always gossip, and ALWAYS some kitchen editor sashaying in with some fresh baked cookies they are "testing."

When we were trying to raise money to buy our farm, I considered trying to get Martha to cut me a check. What's 200K to a woman like her? I was desperate, and hey - I've never been paid a day rate so I figure she owed me?

We worked it out without her, but tonight, I realize she's done more than her share to promote my business. I'll try to make this brief:

In 2003 when my mother was hammering away at her farmers market handmade soap business I picked up a copy of Living and saw a story on rubber stamps. It was beautifully shot, and brimming with applications...

I said to my mom "We should wrap your soaps in nice paper and stamp the labels."

The rest is history. Wholesale soap, trade shows, retail shops, the addition of flowers to Saipua...

In lots of ways we owe it all to Martha Stewart...an incredibly tough, ingenious woman who inspires us to be practical and indulgent; who reminds us to light candles at the dinner table every night and to schedule windowsill cleaning. A woman who, despite her schedule and stature, still makes a point to shop the flower market, on occasion, in the flesh.

Here's to you Martha. I can't wait to meet you in person one fine day.
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Thanks to Stephen Orr for the story and for his inspirations in all things flora, thanks to Jen Causey for the gorgeous pictures, and thanks to Lena, Jennifer, Jenny, Liane and Fay for being our floral students in the shoot. And of course thanks to Nicolette for being the best partner in floral crimes.

The February issue featuring our Little Flower School is on news stands till Sunday if you want to see the full article.