We’re in the current Whirl Wedding Guide in a feature on wedding bouquets. As part of the “Whirl Wednesdays” segment, another of our wedding bouquets was featured on Pittsburgh Today Live on KDKA this morning. Here’s the video:
It’s made of mauve duchess roses (the large roses, which are 3-4 roses put together to make them enormous), burgundy ranunculus with green buds and leaves, purple button mums, lavender and rosemary foliage (from our garden – thanks, mild winter!), pink waxflower, and succulents (Portulacaria afra ‘Aurea’, from my greenhouse, plus a little Echeveria tucked in there, too).
We’re very excited about our first full year of growing and selling flowers. But like the flowers, we’re retreating for the winter and building up our reserves to burst forth in the spring.
Last week, we regrouped from the holidays and got the greenhouse organized. For the month of January, we’ll be on hiatus from the Pittsburgh Public Market. We’ll be back in February for your Valentine’s Day needs, and again in March & April for Easter. Then we’re back in full force when spring bursts into action for the entire month of May.
What are we doing in the meantime? Well, we’re continuing our classes on topics such as terrarium building, bulb forcing, wedding planning and all sorts of other stuff, so you can still see us there. And we’re working with other partners, including Phipps Conservatory, Construction Junction, and Creative Reuse Pittsburgh to bring more new classes your way as well. We’ll also be participating in several wedding shows, including one at the Pittsburgh Public Market on February 25-26 (more details to come soon).
We’re also working on several big new projects that aren’t quite ready for the light of day yet, but I can give you a hint on one. You may already know that we have a greenhouse and workshop in Lawrenceville, and soon we’ll be inviting you to come on down and visit us there, open for retail visitors. No pictures yet, but watch Facebook and you’ll be able to see our progress as we get things ready!
We’ve added a calendar to our website so you can keep up with where we are and what’s going on. And of course, if you need an emergency plant in the meantime, give us a call or send us email!
We’ve been doing a series of classes on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. at the Pittsburgh Public Market. Our most popular class so far has been terrarium class (next one coming up on December 11). Today we did a Thanksgiving table arrangement and several attendees took home beautiful arrangements for their Thanksgiving festivities, learned about flower arranging, and did it all for a lot less than buying a finished arrangement from a florist.
For the rest of the year, we’re doing a variety of holiday-themed sessions. There’s a run-down below. If you’re interested, sign up for our email list. Once a week, we email with details of the class (plus some handy seasonal tips, for things like pumpkin-carving, bulb-planting, and choosing a Christmas tree).
November 27: Doorknob wreaths with Construction Junction.
Don’t settle for the same old cheap glass Christmas bulbs on your holiday door wreath. We’ll use some pieces of Pittsburgh history — doorknobs from Construction Junction and the greenSinner vaults — to decorate a live or artificial wreath (your choice), then dress them up with bows, ribbons, and bling.
Cost: Free, you pay for the materials. Basic materials will start at about $40, ranging up to $100 or more if you choose really fancy doorknobs. (Aunt Edna would choose fancy doorknobs.) 1 hour.
December 4: Finishing touches for the holidays.
It’s an extravaganza of gift-wrapping, bow-making, and all those other tiny little touches that make the holiday special. Friends, family, and crotchety Aunt Edna will marvel and envy the craftiness and style you bring to gift-giving and holiday festivities. Through demonstrations and hands-on help, we’ll walk you through making everything pretty. Bring up to 3 items with you to wrap on the spot, and take home ideas for all the rest, plus embellishments for the table, mantle, stockings, and more.
Cost: $20. 1.5 hours
December 11: Make your own terrarium.
Want to bring a little piece of nature indoors? Keeping plants in a glass terrarium is a great way to connect with nature, and they make great gifts, too. (Aunt Edna wants two, since you never call.) We’ll talk about considerations for choosing plants, accessorizing your terrarium, and successfully caring for it. Then we’ll turn you loose on a container of your choice to plant your very own terrarium.
Cost: $7 includes dirt, moss, rocks, and accessories. You purchase plants (from $3-$6) and bring your own container – mason jars, aquariums, fishbowls, and apothecary jars are all good choices. 1.5 hours.
December 18: Christmas table arrangement.
Santa’s coming, and so is picky Aunt Edna. Make sure you have flowers to impress her for your holiday table. We’ll create an arrangement of evergreens and long-lasting flowers to stay through all your holiday parties (or take it somewhere as a hostess gift). You can optionally bring your own container to build an arrangement in – anything from a basket to a soup tureen. And if you have Christmas mementos, special ornaments, or anything else you want to work in, bring them along.
Cost: $35. 1.5 hours.
December 25: No class.
We’ll be playing with our toys, and packing Aunt Edna’s bags so she can finally go home.
January 1: No class.
Champagne toasting Aunt Edna’s health as she prepares for the final year before the end of the Mayan calendar.
We’ve got big plans: we’re becoming urban flower farmers and designers.
Why Urban Farming?
Pittsburgh, like lots of industrial cities, has undergone a lot of contraction in the last 30-40 years. It’s done a pretty swell job at reinventing itself focusing around new industries like healthcare and education rather than steel and glass — there’s a reason we keep winning all those “most livable city” awards, after all.
But part of the transition was that Pittsburgh lost a lot of people. It’s now about half the size it once was, and that means a lot of empty space in the city. A compact urban core is great, but realistically, infill of housing can’t fill all that space. So what can we do with it? Some of it will go to parks and other greenspace, which is great. But there’s another greenspace-oriented use that also productively employs land and people: farming.
Why Flowers?
The local food movement has led to lots of local food options. Having grown up in the country, where you can find farmstands along the road with fresh produce all summer long, we’re in love with that. We subscribe to a CSA, we try to eat seasonal foods for this region of the country, and we grow our own.
But flowers… do you realize that the vast majority of cut flowers sold and delivered in the United States come from places like Ecuador and Colombia? They have perfect flower-growing climates to grow things like roses year-round, and they all get shipped overseas and assembled into the bouquets and arrangements you get from your local flower shop. As a result, they’re also not particularly fresh, and they’re covered with chemical preservatives and fungicides and all sorts of things like that.
We’d like to do our little part to change that. (Plus, Jimmy says he can’t cook, so I have to give him something to do, and flowers are right up his alley.) There’s a growing local flowers movement, and if you look, you can find locally-grown flowers in lots of places. We’ll talk more about this issue in some future posts, but start by simply asking your local florist, or looking for flowers at stores like Whole Foods, which sources locally. You can look for suppliers near you that belong to the American Society of Cut Flower Growers (we’re a member!) and they even have a Buyer’s Guide to help you out. Not only are local flowers better because they don’t have to be shipped as far, but they’re also far fresher, and can often last much longer.
We also think this is a great fit for Pittsburgh in particular, which is turning into a real green city: a LEED-certified convention center, the Fairmont hotel, and lots of other initiatives going on.
What’s greenSinner about this?
Well, local cut flowers are a little bit green, a little bit sin. You do cut them and keep them around for a few weeks, then throw them away, after all. But they provide such beauty to our lives, especially to special days like weddings and parties, we think it’s worth it. But while we’re at it, let’s use flowers from local farms, not from halfway around the world, covered with chemical preservatives.
What Are We Doing?
Two things:
- We’re starting a farm. We’re currently working with the city and the URA to understand the options and secure a place to grow for the long-term (and that’s why we were so interested in the new Pittsburgh agriculture ordinance). In the meantime, we’re doing some guerilla farming: a few plots here and there in our own backyards and those of our friends and neighbors. My position in this enterprise is Farmer-General.
- We’re opening a stall at the Pittsburgh Public Market. We’ll be selling our own flowers and arrangements (made by Jimmy, our Chief Eccentric Officer), as well as a variety of containers, live plants, seeds, and other related stuff. We’re planning on being open by Mother’s Day, so come on down to the market and see us! You can also contact us at jimmy@greensinner.com and jonathan@greensinner.com.
