I love the variety of plants that bloom in my garden throughout the summer. Even some of the so-called “weeds” have beautiful flowers. It puts weeding, and how we look at our gardens, into a whole new light. There are folks in our community who really know how to get the most from their garden and share its beauty with others. Auralea Michaud of Seeds of Joy Backyard Flower Farm is one of those.
During the pandemic, Auralea, a mother of four, found herself thinking of a business venture to keep herself occupied after she closed her in-home daycare. It came as a suggestion from her eldest daughter, 11-year-old Kyleigh, an award-winning entrepreneur herself. (Kyleigh runs a beeswax wrap company called “BEEtiful World”). At her daughter’s urging, Auralea decided to take her hobby of growing flowers in the back yard and making it a business - by selling them in her front yard!
Auralea grew up in Nolalu on a 99-acre property. Now living in Westfort, her growing space is much smaller, but her back yard is packed with flower beds that support her front-yard market stand.
“Flowers are like little miracles,” Auralea says. “I think that looking at flowers in a fresh-cut bouquet is a stress-reliever.” The flowers that Auralea includes in her bouquets include beauties such as ranunculus, dahlias, anemones and zinnias. She mixes them with others that you can’t easily find in a store-bought bouquet, like lupines and columbines.
Once Auralea posts that she has bouquets for sale on her Facebook page, she is usually sold out in a few hours. “I enjoy the flower stand because I look forward to seeing my regulars. People enjoy sharing the bouquets or just brightening their own space with flowers. People have emotional connections to flowers. I’ve been told by customers that they have memories of their grandparents when they smell sweet peas, for example. That sweet pea fragrance – you just can’t beat it!”
Auralea has seen her business grow over the past two years. Occasionally, she is asked for a special order, such as sweet peas for grandchildren to carry at their grandmother’s celebration of life. She was able to fulfill that request and was honoured to have her flowers be part of such an important event. Even though flowers are always part of our special occasions, Auralea encourages people to pick a bouquet from their yard (yes, even including those weeds) and put it somewhere where it can be enjoyed every day. Auralea also asks folks to plant a few flowers in their yard to support pollinators like bees and butterflies.
It seems that entrepreneurship and an appreciation of nature both run in Auralea’s family, who are helping make our community a little more eco-friendly and beautiful - one flower and one bee at a time.
Follow Seeds of Joy Backyard Flower Farm on Facebook.
