Sometimes you just get lucky... I have discovered that while my list of places to visit is long, there's always room for one more. Through a stroke of luck, I was able to procure a reservation for us to visit this magical place ~ A flower farm ~ on Valentine's Day!
I'm not even sure I remember how I found this place, but it was one of those mornings when I was just following one lead after another.... and voilà! Here we are. Driving along the beautiful coastal and foothill roads of our beautiful Island on a clear, sunny morning. Google Maps took us right to the entrance, although had it not been for a few other cars on the road, I would have been sure we were in the wrong place. There are no signs, no indication whatsoever that this was it. The road in was worn and muddy, but more like a private entrance to a property. The parking was simply an open spot with the weeds cut back. Somehow we just wandered into it and found this lovely little hut!
A young man in a wide-brimmed straw hat greeted us and we began asking questions. We knew nothing about this place, other than that it is a flower farm. Turns out, the story is very sweet, and there are big plans in the works! Almost 10 years ago, this man bought 10 acres of land that was once a dairy farm, but had since been abandoned and fallen to ruin. Unknown to him at the time, the land was more or less a swamp, and because of that, it could hardly be used. Well, it was a done deal, so he and his cousins began to clear the brush and rubble from the property, and through the hand of providence, he picked up a book on the subject of draining swampland! He studied the method and got to work.
They built a series of drainage ditches, and drilled down into the water table, and literally drained the swamp! It's an ongoing process as the water comes down from the nearby mountains, so they are endlessly working on it... but for now, they've drained enough to plant the beautiful fields of flowers we came here to see today!
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| They used the rubble from the dairy farm ruins to create the structures for drainage |
After hearing about the plans for the future... the little hut will be a kitchen with a few tables behind it for dining, and a U-pick veggie garden... we scattered to wander amongst the flowers and bees! Each of us followed our own path through the tumble of flowers. Of course I was lead by one photo to the next! Bruce wandered off to discover more of the water management structure, and ended up talking history with one of the men on the property. Guess he wasn't too interested in a bunch of flowers! But our neighbors and I were! Come see what we found!
Eventually we were done. While I could have snapped photo after photo (after photo...) all day, enjoying the changing light as clouds came and went, the place was beginning to fill up. More people arrived, so we made our way to the door. But not before getting one of the men to cut some flowers for me to take home!
So, if you want to come visit the flower farm, and help support these enterprising young people, the cost is $3 per person, and there is a price for the cut flowers according to size, but it's very reasonable. I promise your soul will feel clean and free after spending time with the flowers, bees and butterflies!
The Finca is open only by appointment, and only when they have flowers. You can reach them easily by their
Facebook page, and they are very responsive on WhatsApp as well. There will be different flowers at different times, so we will come back for sure! And, with the planned farm-to-table restaurant, and the U-pick veggies coming in the not too distant future, I can see this will be a fun place to keep on our radar!
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