About the Barn
Brightflower Barn is a fresh iteration of my love and passion for growing flowers. We moved off the flower farm in September of 2020 and sold the farm in February 2021. But, I knew I couldn’t give up my love of being surrounded by plants and flowers. On the new property, which is about an acre, there is an old barn that was built in the late 1800’s, it was paneled in steel in the 1940’s. When we bought the property, the barn was full of junk, and not particularly good junk, that more than filled a 30-yard dumpster. The roof of the main barn was pealing at the edges and one of the two additions, an old repair shop, was also in poor shape. But the potential!
Once the shop was all cleaned up and the steel paneling was off, the idea of a greenhouse started to take shape. I started speaking to various contractors about my vision. The roofer said that we could use the steel from the west-side shop to repair the original barn and the steel paneling would blend with what was already there. With all of the various conversations with the roofer, carpenter, and heating and electrical contractor, we came up with a workable design. We installed twin-wall polycarbonate on the roof, south side, and windows on the west wall.
Michael and I painted the inside, I installed shelving on the east and west walls, benching and lights run down the middle for starting seeds and cuttings. We have circulating fans, exhaust fans, and a heater. During the first winter when temps dipped into the negative teens with winds in the 40’s, the little heater was doing all it could to keep the temps in the above freezing. I now have polyurethane foam insulation sprayed on the inner barn walls to fill in nearly all of the leaks. While it is certainly not a state-of-the-art facility, it is mine to grow food, flowers, herbs, succulents, geraniums, and whatever else comes my way!
During the 15 years of Brightflower Farm, I collected several different varieties of scented geraniums for greenery in floral design. Besides a lovely “she-cave”, I always knew that I wanted the space to produce some income. We are now offering cuttings of scented geraniums and custom sowing for the local flower farming industry. We will let you know when we are loaded with new inventory through email and Facebook!
