The joys of work

It is curious how many enquiries I get from people who would like a few encouraging words about setting up or growing on their own cut flower business.  I don't really know how to help as everyone works differently. When a journalist visited me recently she asked me if I could give advice on how gardeners should set up a cutting patch, but she laughed even as she asked as she had been with me for over an hour by that point and realised that my flower gardens are rather more chaotic than most, rather more scattered than most, and possibly not the best way forward for anyone but me!

I think if you are really passionate about something you can make it work if you want to. There are lots of caveats about turning hobbies into jobs, how people end up hating the job and discarding the original hobby, and that's probably right. Growing was never a hobby for me, much more ingrained than that. And I do love it. It is exhausting getting any business going, and growing is possibly more exhausting than most. I have done easier work, in fact every job I have ever done has been easier than this. I get disheartened some days, of course, and physical exhaustion is a little too ever present, but I am also constantly terrifically excited by what I am doing. I cannot imagine that this business will ever pall, for me,  because I can think of so many exciting directions it can go in. 

And when I go down to the main field and it looks like a real garden, it makes me smile. Deeply.