Dreams DO and CAN Come True!

We didn’t need to ‘Wish Upon a Star’ for our dreams to come true!  We set life goals and worked hard to make our dreams come to fruition!

We met in college when he dreamed of old vintage trucks and she dreamed of flowers and beautiful landscapes.  He dreamed of being an architect and she a florist.  He dreamed of being a dad to a whole tribe of little children and she always wanted to be a mom to little girls.

Reality: he served in the US Navy for six years to afford his education and then pursued a degree in mechanical engineering with nuclear emphasis.  She studied pre-medicine and earned a degree in pharmacy.  They had four beautiful, intelligent and talented children… her three girls and his boy!  They raised the children on a 4H farm in Ohio, while he continued to dream of his truck and she grew her flowers in beds around the house.

After thirty-five years of marriage, they are finally living their dreams.  He is drawing and developing plans for the yard and buildings along with owning two vintage pick-up trucks.  She is growing her own flowers in their landscape and has developed a talent for arranging flowers.  He developed the plans for a beautiful she shed that she uses to create fragrantly beautiful bouquets.

Rachel:

At a young age, my grandmother Grace inspired me to garden.  She was an avid gardener with her entire front yard as a flower bed!  I have dreamed of being a florist/gardener since I can remember.  As I grew older, I realized that I could not follow my dream precisely.  Instead, I pursued a pharmacy career.  Over 40 years later, I am blessed to be revisiting my childhood dream!  I am in the process of developing a small cut flower farming business, Blossoms of Grace in SC…named after my grandmother!

Paul:

My heart has always had a desire to serve others.  With Rachel by my side, we have been able to serve in many capacities in our community and church.  My latest desire is to support Recovery Road Ministries, a non-profit organization focused on bringing men and women out of addiction by equipping them with the disciplines and tools needed to achieve and maintain long-term recovery.  Flower farming provides a peaceful outlet for frustration and anger.  Working in the soil provides a therapeutic benefit to assist in a healthy recovery.

The Cold Creek Connection:

When we moved to Aiken, SC several years ago, the realtor drove by a beautiful plant nursery at the corner of Hitchcock Parkway and Dibble Road.  She mentioned that she loves to shop for her house plants at Cold Creek Nursery.  Over those years, we admired and enjoyed the beautiful plants at Cold Creek.  In 2019, when the pharmacy industry was eliminating jobs, Rachel’s hours were cut to a once monthly shift.  Most months she worked much more than the allotted one shift, but during this time, her interest in flower farming grew.

In March 2020 just after the world shutdown for Covid, Rachel went to work part-time at Cold Creek in the greenhouse.  This specialty-interest job afforded her time in the greenhouse with very knowledgeable, gifted and talented staff and time in the lot with perennial flowers.  Every day was a new learning experience!

Within 6 months of hire, the owners of the greenhouse sold their business after 43 years.  Four months later, the new owners expressed interest in offering “Flowers like Floret”, referring to Erin Benzakein, a famous flower farmer in the Skagit Valley of Washington.  Word spread quickly and Rachel immediately began making connection to grow enough flowers for the nursery retail setting.  The new owners Jen and Bill Tiszai breathed life into the life dream!

Recovery Road Ministry Connection:

Drugs and alcohol addiction destroy lives and families every day.  Recovery Road Ministries (RRM) is a non-profit, dedicated to improving the physical, spiritual, and psychological health of individuals incarcerated and recovering from dependencies.  RRM aims to help change these lives and provide the tools needed to succeed in life.

Recovery Road is a non-government residential recovery program providing a 10-month curriculum, professional counseling, public education, job training, and resources to promote healthy recovery.  The goal is to ensure that every client is equipped to become a fully-functioning and successful member of society.

Concurrent with Recovery Road, Blossoms of Grace (BoG) is a place where recovering addicts can find solace and peace in the garden, while learning life skills.  This is an ongoing therapeutic endeavor to raise funds and provide continued support for RRM.  BoG’s goal is to help mentor, develop a gardening business mindset, educate to effectively grow plants, raise community awareness, and encourage a strong work ethic to support society’s labor workforce.

Blossoms of Grace is offering six-month flower subscriptions with all profits supporting the program at Recovery Road.  The Ministry has recently purchased 8 acres to develop a farmstead along with a flower farming business.  Eventually the clients at the farm will grow fields of annuals, while Paul and Rachel will produce beautiful foliage, roses and hydrangeas to accompany the annual flowers to make beautiful bouquets.

We hope you will partner with us and procure locally-grown, fresh cut flower through a monthly subscription or by picking up a beautiful, arranged bouquet for your home, office, or special loved one.

Visit Recovery Road Web Site