Skywyld Farm: The Heart and Soil Behind The Flowers

When we started to farm, our mission was to bless our community with the beauty of flowers,” Amber Galusha recalls. “But we are the ones who have been blessed by the beautiful people in our community.” Since March of 2022, Amber and her sister, Stephanie Farris, have labored side by side, often six days a week, on Amber’s Cottonwood area farm to deliver the freshest possible flower arrangements to their customers. Farming has been in their family for generations but, even so, the sisters never imagined that one day they would be farming their own “honest-to-goodness” flowers.

Coming home to farm a blooming business

In 2020, Amber, who had worked as a plant buyer at Amador Flower Farm in Plymouth, CA for five years, was thinking of a life change. “My desire was to move back to my hometown and grow flowers to donate to senior homes and for other needs in the community,” she says. When she and her husband, Brad, sold their home in El Dorado Hills to move back to Cottonwood, one of her main requirements for the new property was space for both a vegetable and a cut-flower garden. She never expected to find that and so much more — a literal replica of her great-grandparent’s Colorado homestead.  It felt natural to come home to farm and be with family on a 160-acre farm with a log cabin set against the mountains.

Moving north to be near family couldn’t have happened any sooner. Amber had just started her new vegetable garden when the sisters’ mother and stepfather grew ill and were hospitalized. When they both passed away, she and Stephanie fully realized the brevity of life. Stephanie, who was working as a massage therapist and reflexologist, wondered if the tragedy was showing the sisters it was time for a big change. The two began daydreaming about growing flowers together on a large scale and Amber, who had been following @floretflower, decided to take Erin Benzakein’s online cut-flower workshop. Their mom had always wished for her girls to be close, even closer than they already were, and a flower farm would provide that opportunity.

“Mom would want us to do this,” they thought, and decided 2022 was the year to fully dig in. Stephanie says, “What could be better than healing together through flowers?” Skywyld Farm took root.

With farming in the family, the sisters are creating a healthy ecosystem

Amber and Stephanie designed their 1/3 acre flower garden on their own, and then the hard work really began. Brad, Amber’s husband; their son, Garrison, and his fiancee, Myshella; along with  Stephanie’s husband, Dave; and their grandson, Bentley, all pitched in with occasional help. Myshella lends a hand with bouquet arrangements and Garrison plants sunflower seeds during busy times. Even with this much-appreciated help, the sisters are constantly working.

They maintain and drive the tractor for working the soil, build fences and have engineered an efficient drip system for each of their 40-foot square flower beds. During most daylight hours you will find them on their hands and knees planting each individual seed or seedling. “We have literally put our blood, sweat and tears into these flowers,” Amber says. The sisters often battle the dry, hot wind or work to outsmart the four-legged intruders including ground squirrels, deer, wild boars, voles and gophers.

Even these challenges are a way to feel closer to their farming ancestors who no doubt faced many problems. “Our great-grandmother and grandmother were farmers, and our mother was an avid gardener who grew vegetables and morning glories every summer. These women loved God and had grit,” the girls say on their website.

One grandmother grew dinner-plate roses and mint and another was known for periwinkle and irises. The sisters’ favorite job is picking flower varieties as diverse as their names. Lisianthus, celosia, scabiosa, dara, ornamental kale, zinnias, snapdragons, calla lilies, delphinium, sunflowers, hypericum, solidago, bupleurum, rudbeckia, daucus, nigella, amaranthus and sweet peas are just some of what they hope to offer in their arrangements next season.

Taking lessons from Lisa Ziegler’s Gardners’ Workshop, they know it will  take four years for an ecosystem to be fully developed; and their garden’s growing ecosystem is set up to be completely organic and sustainable, which mean no pesticides or herbicides. Amber and Stephanie are happy to see Skywyld’s ecosystem thriving with frogs, lizards, birds and beneficial insects.

A healthy ecosystem and composted soil make for glorious blossoms and the sisters get to bask in the abundance each harvest day. They start their Mondays and Thursdays in the early morning dark, filling buckets with water and blooms. While the cut flowers “rest” for two hours, the sisters pull weeds or till up a new bed. They hand fold their bouquet sleeves and then the creative process begins. Although both sisters wear many hats, the more introverted Amber takes the creative lead. She also handles the social media and business tasks. Always more of a people person, Stephanie enjoys deliveries and talking with customers. One customer recently told her that her arrangement looks great three weeks later. This is possible when flowers are grown within 30 miles of their customers rather than traveling from other countries.

Growing the business and reliving beautiful moments

The sisters are optimistic for their farm’s future. Stephanie and Dave recently purchased a 71-acre farm four miles from Amber and Brad’s. They will use the new farm to grow filler plants such as eucalyptus, pussy willow, curly willow and more. Amber and Stephanie are planning to double their flower production and find new businesses to carry their flowers.

According to Amber, “Deidre McDougal, who owns The Bean in Cottonwood, was our first customer and we are grateful that she offered to sell our flowers in her coffee shop, even though we were new to farming. Because she gave us a chance, we had enough confidence to approach other local businesses with our flowers. We now also sell our bouquets at Kent’s Meats and Groceries, Orchard Nutrition and Country Organics. We hope to have a Red Bluff location next season.”

This winter the sisters will be learning wreath making from NorCal’s Shelley Yoshiwara. In 2023, they plan to hold educational fields trips on the farm. Recognizing that many people invested in their success, they say they want to repay that investment with their business. For example, Ali Duivenvoorden, who owned and operated Farm Ground, gifted the two with her dahlias when she moved to Michigan. The dahlias serve as a constant reminder that the farm is a community effort.

The farm is also a constant reminder of their mother. “Our mom loved hearts,” Stephanie says. “We never grow tired of finding hearts in flowers or in other aspects of nature on the farm.” Amber adds, “Mom’s favorite time of the year was early summer when she would load us up in the Volkswagen bug to visit the family farm in Paonia, CO. Steph and I would spend our time picking and eating fruit in the orchards.” The sisters have been given the chance to relive those beautiful moments and to create new ones in each original bouquet. Visit The Skywyld Farm website and on Instagram and Facebook for glimpses of their vibrant creations and the heart behind them.