WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRIS TIESSEN
What’s better than receiving a bouquet of flowers (as a treat from yourself or from someone else)? Receiving a bouquet of flowers that are locally-grown and fresh-cut, of course. And on the regular, too. For the past four years Emily Harman (with help from husband Andy Harman) has been making this experience a reality by offering Flower Subscriptions – including Springtime Tulip Subscriptions and Harvest Subscriptions (available now) – for folks across Wellington County.
And subscriptions are only the beginning of what Emily works hard to accomplish on Mapleton Acres, her fifty-acre farm that boasts 1.5 acres of flower beds. She also hosts flower experiences – including flowery date nights in the field, opportunities to ‘cut-your-own- flowers’ (a first for Wellington County), adult- and-littles experiences, and a myriad of in-the- field workshops. If you’ve ever wanted to learn how to create basic flower arrangements, how to press flowers, or how to craft dried floral wreaths, look no further than Mapleton Acres Flower Farm where you will find plots overflowing with dahlias, sunflowers, yarrow, tulips, and more.
‘This fall,’ Emily notes while she guides me through a sea of mid-June emerging flowerbeds, ‘we’ll plant over sixteen thousand tulip bulbs, and will have more than sixteen fifty-foot rows of dahlias in bloom.’ And that’s just the beginning. When Emily and her small team aren’t busy on the farm, she’s off-farm flowering for weddings and popping up with fresh-cut flowers at regional craft markets: like MktMkt, EtsyWR, Wonderfully Made, and others.
Oh, and Emily’s own cute Flower Farm Shop at Mapleton Acres is always stocked with blooms, and is open year-round on Mondays from 8am to 3pm, Thursdays & Fridays from 10am to 7pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 3pm.
Like so many other remarkable producers, farmers, and food businesses that dot Guelph and Wellington County, Mapleton Acres Flower Farm is a partner of Taste Real – a County of Wellington program that promotes local food and facilitates valuable connections among farmers, food businesses, consumers, and craftspeople alike. That includes flower growers like Emily, whose business is a model for regional entrepreneurship and beautification. Learn more at mapletonacres.com and tastereal.ca
