About Us
Hi! We are Dave and Shari Kruyswijk, and we have been cultivating dahlias in Lynden, WA, since the summer of 2016.
Our journey began on Christmas Eve 2014 when Dave proposed to Shari on the pier at Boulevard Park in Bellingham, WA. As we planned our wedding, the idea of growing flowers for the occasion appealed to us. Although dahlias from our soil never materialized for our mid-July wedding, some of the plants we used to decorate the venue still thrive in our landscape today. This experience planted a seed in our hearts, blossoming into a passion for stewarding the 1/3 acre regenerative farm we seek to cultivate today. We recognize that the immense beauty, detail, variety, power, and artistry we encounter can only be attributed to the creative and sustainable design of an infinitely wise God.
Flowerly Farm's beginnings trace back to late summer 2015 when, after returning from a two-week honeymoon in South Africa, we uprooted a small patch of grass to create a vegetable garden. The local co-op had limited options, leaving us with only a few pepper, leek, and kale starts. In 2016, we expanded our garden by removing more lawns to make room for turnips, arugula, bok choy, carrots, celery, broccolini, butternut squash, and tomatoes. The yields were mixed, prompting us to research ways to improve our results in the following years—a trend that would continue.
By 2017, our garden had overtaken about 50% of the lawn area, and we introduced raised beds and companion planting. We joined the Whatcom County Dahlia Society after our dahlias from the previous year had rotted, resulting in a total loss. It was here that we learned from experts like Paul Bloomquist, Steve and Sandy Boley, and Cory Wynne about breeding new varieties of dahlias. We planted our first seedlings in 2020; although nothing significant developed that year, subsequent years have yielded increasingly better results as we continue to research the genetics of the dahlia plant. We hope to establish a dedicated breeding area shortly.
In the spring of 2019, we joined the Floret movement by taking an Online Workshop to enhance our farming practices. This led to our flower crops expanding significantly, with raised bed rows primarily dedicated to dahlias and zinnias, while the number of rows for vegetables and fruits was reduced. This year, we introduced several farming practices, including on-site composting, vermiculture, crop rotation, and drip irrigation.
In August 2022, we purchased "Teaming with Microbes" by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis. Through this book and others, we began our journey into soil microbiology and structure, learning how organisms—from bacteria to beetles and birds—contribute to soil health management and how soil microbiology contributes to disease management in plants.
Finally, in connection with growing awareness in the dahlia community of viral diseases in dahlias, we implemented a rigorous testing regimen using Agdia ImmunoStrips. While we always have culled disease-looking plants through visual inspection, testing all the varieties ensures we are not removing plants that may only be going through a rough patch, and are removing diseased plants that are asymptomatic.
We now consider our farm to be beyond organic and are exploring additional regenerative practices such as bio-pest controls using beneficial bugs and the benefits of compost tea. We have recently joined the Slow Flowers Movement attending their conference in Banff in June 2024 and a more recent international online conference in January 2025. Thank you for reading our story. We hope to share more in the months to come!
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