Becoming a Part of the Story
Joining a strong history and making it yours
On Wednesday night, Daylily Connection had their first guests on the farm since 2024. The Rush County Master Gardeners Club came out to hold their meeting and learn about our story. This club is full of knowledgeable people who have been gardening for so long, some for more years than I've been here on earth.
So you can imagine my self-conscious meter pinging when their leader, Joyce, asked if we could give a talk about daylilies. What am I supposed to teach a master gardener? She reassured us to just talk about where we are now. Easy enough.
Naturally, I spent extra hours trying to "beautify" the place. I focused on making our carport more comfortable.
Colt sprayed the weeds that have been popping up through our gravel foundation. He and Hoyt (stepson) pulled down all the old insulation that the birds have long since torn through to find safe spots for nesting.
I did the more impractical things like hanging baskets, table covers, and put together little daylily table decor. I tried to make the environment feel less like a spot to just sit and more like an extension of the daylilies, a place to enjoy.
The visit with the Rush County Master Gardeners went well. As we sat under the carport with a beautiful breeze, and a setting sun slowing inching down, they kindly listened to us awkwardly drone on and on about inheriting this farm.
As we talked about Daylily Connection, something unexpected happened. Instead of us telling the story, Joyce began telling it to us.
The story of how Matt and Sheila went down south to find a specific flower but ended up purchasing a whole farm. How amazing that people actually know our history. Colt filled in some details that I didn't even know. I didn't realize how much he helped them in the beginning. That his hands have been in the dirt since its birth.
Matt came in for a few minutes at the end to impart his knowledge and expand on the story of the farm, which clearly showed his years of investment.
It got me thinking about my story on the farm. One day, will someone say, "Oh ya, Daylily Connection, that cool farm in Falmouth where the son and daughter in law took over and did some amazing things with it! Let’s go visit!" It's kinda fun to think about.
My personal story on the farm is lesser known but so important to me. When I started volunteering on the farm, I got to meet Colt's Aunt Donna. She has become very dear to me. Talking to her for hours on the long hot days are probably the main reason I looked forward to daylily season initially.
Listening to her as she remembered every returning customer by name, their story, and easily learned more about them in just a few short minutes. She had been helping with daylily season for years, even when Sheila was still alive, but she was getting to the point of retiring when I came around.
She taught me how to check customers out, discussed different daylily forms, and described varieties that she loved. Banana Cream Beauty stands out, and I wish we still had it on the farm just so I can always keep a piece of her there.
Donna doesn't work at Daylily Connection anymore, but I will always feel a closeness towards her for those beginning years where she accepted me so kindly and has since entrusted me with her spot under the carport. She even came to our wedding which, of course, was in the middle of the daylilies.
And that is the most important part of my history and story with Daylily Connection. July 10, 2021, Colt and I joined our lives forever between beds H, I, C, and D. In fact, my brother in law, Todd, took a look at the flowers that were on either side of where Colt and I said "I Do".
Angel Smiles and God is Listening.
Not intentional, but definitely fitting. Like the farm was approving of us right from the start.
Daylily Connection is the place where I became a wife, a stepmother, and shared it with the most important people in my life. It's my home. Worth building to last. It will also be my legacy.
I didn't realize it until I started writing this blog, but I became part of the Daylily Connection story long before Colt and I officially took over the farm.
It happened in conversations under the carport with Donna. It happened while learning customers' names and stories. It happened on July 10, 2021, when Colt and I said "I do" surrounded by blooming daylilies. It happened every time we chose to invest our time, our energy, and our hearts into this place.
For years, Daylily Connection belonged to Matt and Sheila's story. Today, it still does. But now it carries pieces of ours too.
And maybe that's another view of what stewardship really is—not replacing a story, but becoming a worthy chapter in it.
I am grateful that I get to be part of this one.
Love how you are sharing your story and how you guys are working to make the legacy live on. Out of town right now, but hope to be there on the 5th to add to our garden