Growing up in the beautiful Mountains of Tahoe, we spent most of our summers swimming in the lake and rivers, hiking the beautiful Mountain-tops of the North Shore of Tahoe an drinking some of the most beautiful scenery in California. As lucky as we had it, as children, we also had the added benefit of traveling an hour West down the beautiful highway 80 past the epic Donner Summit and down into the Gem of the Sierra Foothills. My Grand parents had moved out of busy city life in the 1950’s to a simpler quiet place that holds my heart today, Newcastle CA. They bought 30 acres in the Newcastle California the Gem of the Foothills, a magical area filled with age old Oaks of all varieties, hot and slow summer days. Surrounded by rock-fruit orchards, the mandarin Citrus mecca of the foothills, and the up and coming wine and brewery country. Driving the back roads, the golden hills of Wise Road in the area is liken to some of the hills of Italy, sprawling oaks, Italian Cypress allow your mind wander to a slow passed, golden hued, rustic charm.
When we came to the Newcastle Property during the summer, my sister and I have memories of playing in the creek, endless hours in the water and exploring the property. My Grandmother was consumed with her love and passion of tomatoes. To this day the stories of her tomatoes outmatch any of our efforts. The old pictures of the endless rows of the sun-drenched fruits bring on memories of everything tomatoes. All of our (pre-farm-to-table) farm to table dinners, which luckily to us was “just what we knew”. Fresh zucchini, the most amazing tomatoes, basil, to us Grandma Jean’s garden was our summer.
Our family is large, and with a smile when reminiscing, my aunts, and uncles recall a property filled with Oaks that needed to be cleared, a beautiful home designed by my fathers best friend, built by the hands of my Uncle Steve and more then 40 years later remodeled by my husband. This land is has been built by family taken care of by family and the feel of this property will forever be in our family.
By the time my Grandmother had passed I was just leaving college out in the world looking for my authentic path. Surprising to me with a background in design, I would be led back to a shared love of the peace and calm that digging in the ground brings. A shared love of nature at it’s most beautiful pace. The slow, respectful, patience, that was a gift for me to learn, appreciate, grow and soon adore.
Years after my Grandmother Jean had passed, we as a family, aunts, mothers, uncles, took up the maintenance of my grandmothers’ garden. One year, as culinary farm-to-table became more of an importance; friends began to take interest in growing more vegetable varieties. It was during this time I began to take an interest, in flower varieties. Growing the heat-loving zinnia was my first experience into what would be a very colorful future.
Flowers for Gratitude
My other beloved Grandmother began her journey with the unfortunate diagnosis of Dementia. As time passed we were no longer able to support her at home and she had to be admitted into an assisted care facility. Through this time I had began to grow more and more floral varieties and on days I would visit, I would put together a simple yet beautiful mason-jar bouquet to bring to my Grandmother in care. Those days have wonderful memories of my Grandmother. Her short-term memory was almost completely gone, but on days that I brought her flowers her eyes would fill up with joy and great happiness, transporting her back to times of simpler beautiful memories. In those moments, I realized that this is what I love doing, witnessing the profound moments and impact that a simple bouquet of flowers can have on a person. My Grandmother would gaze at the bouquet allowing her mind moments of calm in the chaos that I can only imagine dementia brings. The simplistic, beauty of flowers, give us moments of pause, appreciation and calm, and this was what I was meant to be doing. This led us to start Flowers for Gratitude, a program for aspiring floral design or hobbyist, as a healthy way to get all the blooms out of the fields with little waste. We cut all the blooms that might not be in use that week, with some floral design direction we are able to make as many bouquets as possible to give to the residences of assisted-care facilities to enjoy. Spreading the simple joy of flowers.
Diablo Grange
After my Grandmother had passed we had expanded the flower area of the garden, and the summer after that and our first little girl, we planted a bit more. Jugging summer flowers and Farmers Market up at the Lake (Tahoe), plus our second beautiful girl, we are finding our way, into Farm Fresh Flower Delivery supporting customers in the Foothills of California. Serendipity shined our way during the Covid lockdown and 5 acres of the original 30 were able to come back into our hands. Expanding our flower production and giving way to a beautiful piece of land with dreams of enchanting parities, floral classes, farm-to-table events adorned with flowers from our fields, food from our garden, wine from our region and a feeling of love that only comes from love.
Please Join Us
Please don’t be a stranger, Contact us at Newcastle Fleur. We strive to be MORE THAN A FLOWER FARM, NEWCASTLE FLEUR AIMS TO CREATE A LIFESTYLE THAT’S SINCERE IN IT’S DEDICATION TO QUALITY OF LIFE, natural foods and products of our region. WHETHER IT’S BESPOKE EXPERIENCES HELD ON OUR PROPERTY, OR PHILANTHROPIC EFFORTS THROUGH “FLOWERS FOR GRATITUDE” WE REVEL IN CELEBRATING NATURES BEAUTY AND DESIGN. WE WOULD LOVE TO SHARE THE FEELING OF OUR FLORALS FROM OUR SPACE TO YOURS.