I’ve been a farmer without a farm for as long as I can remember. As a little girl born in Kansas, I spent summers running through the sunflower fields surrounding my grandparents' land. I followed my grandparents around their acre, amazed at how they could grow beautiful flowers and the biggest, juiciest red tomatoes in the brutal Kansas heat.

 Later, we moved to a small coastal town in Maine, and our neighborhood was adjacent to a prominent farm. Acres and acres of vegetables grew there, serving as the backdrop for many of our childhood adventures. If we weren’t in school, we were outside with muddy hands, often bare feet, playing in nature and watching the staff work the fields.

 After college, I found success in sales and bought my first house north of Boston. Living there with my big pets—Bear, a Bernese mountain dog, and Moose, a rescued Maine coon—I attempted to start gardens. My Mother would come down from Maine, her car full of cuttings from her impressive gardens, to help get me started. However, more often than not, the busy life of a young twenty-something took over, causing all but the hardiest and most forgiving plants to die.

 When I met my husband, we moved to Norwood, MA, and bought a lovely home on over an acre of land. I eventually left my job in software sales to raise my three beautiful children. We wanted our home to be a sanctuary filled with life experiences and surrounded by nature. Slowly, my patient husband and I built our first gardens. As our pet count rose (which now includes two cats, eleven chickens, a giant dog, and an axolotl), my dad began referring to our home as "The Dempsey Farm."

 As my gardens grew, I started cutting flowers, giving bouquets to friends and neighbors, and fresh eggs from our chickens. Many of these friends and family members, successful business professionals, encouraged me and would graciously brainstorm for hours about my dream business. I loved being a stay-at-home mom and always wanted to be the primary caretaker for our children, but if I was honest, I was missing a professional and creative outlet.

 I spent many nights scrolling through social media, witnessing many others build businesses doing what they love. I began to think, “Why not me?” One day, while picking my kids up from school, I overheard my oldest daughter bragging to her friends about how her mommy would start a flower farm. And I knew I wasn’t the only one dreaming for us.

 And that’s where we’ve landed. At Dempsey Farm, we are passionate about spreading joy through local flowers. I don’t live on a traditional “farm”; I reside in a colonial home tucked into the neighborhoods of Norwood, MA. My gardens are carved out through careful negotiations with my kids and husband, and I will admit they are gradually taking over—but so too is the life, the beauty, and the accomplishment that comes from growing things.