Our Roots.
Rewind to 2019.
My now-husband, Blake, and I were engaged, and in the midst of trying to plan a wedding + finding a house to buy, we said, “no more house hunting”, and planned to look after our wedding. Well, then Blake saw a listing for a cute and quaint 1940s farmhouse on Reid Road in Grand Blanc. We fell in love and bought it shortly after we said, “we aren’t buying a house now!” Oh… life is funny!
It came with an abandoned garden area that was hard to even notice, because it was so overgrown with tall grass and weeds. As we worked to renovate our new living space and get married, a garden was the last thing on our minds. Looking back, it feels serendipitous, as couldn’t have been more perfect for what we’d end up doing…we just didn’t know it at the time!
A “before” shot of what would become flower beds and pumpkin patches.
March 2020.
The Corona Virus global pandemic hit. Life felt weird, scary, and strange. Like billions worldwide, we suddenly found ourselves navigating a new work-from-home life and all the changes that the pandemic brought with it.
We took on reviving the garden space during this time, which also served as a big emotional outlet and release. While it felt therapeutic in many ways, it was also a big project! Beyond the grasses and weeds, was so much decrepit weed mat everywhere. Overgrown plants had run rampant, which made pulling up the weed mat even harder. It was almost literally back-breaking work!
Firmly Rooted.
As we cleared out the garden space, we brainstormed ideas of the farmstand we had also been dreaming of. I pitched a million random name ideas as I yanked up miles of old weed mat (or at least what felt like miles!) As roots strongly held down that weed mat, I said, “ROOTS…Roots on Reid!”
The name stuck, and we were able to clear the land for gardening at last and build our quarantine-dream farm stand.
That’s us!
Not only because of the strong roots in the garden, but also for putting our symbolic roots down at our new home, in love with our little area!
Thank you to everyone who shows their support and for helping dreams become a reality. We couldn’t say thank you enough to the amazing community around us, both local and afar— it means so much to us!
The People.
Blake: The veggie man, pumpkin producer, farm engineer, and innovative problem-solver. Loves driving the tractor and experimenting with growing new things (ask him about his giant pumpkin!)
Jill: The flower lady, social media operator, creative maker, and farmstand overseer. Loves creating colorful flower combinations in bouquets and gasps every time a new flower blooms (never gets old!)