I am Maren, a woman, a mother, a partner, and an organic flower farmer and florist by vocation. I am lucky to have grown up between two cultures, the German and the Catalan. The former has taught me to keep my promises and commitments, to have an often pragmatic mentality and to value punctuality. It has taught me to respect the environment and to live as sustainably as possible, although this is also thanks to my partner. The love of natural floral art also comes from German culture.On the other hand, Catalan culture softens my character, allows me to be more flexible, eases sociability, friendship and empathy, and boosts my creativity. It is the culture that welcomes me, where I practice my chosen profession and where I have built my family life.

I have actually worked as a technical architect specialising in bio-construction, as an agroecological vegetable farmer, as an agroecological flower grower, and as a mother, which, after all, requires a lot of dedication.I always knew that I wanted to be a florist, but in my youth the idea still prevailed that it was better to get a university degree. After more than 14 years working in bio-construction, and especially after the birth of our daughter Violeta, I decided that I no longer wanted to travel and deal with building sites, and that flowers were for me. It was a risky bet, because we don't have a flower culture in the Mediterranean, but the change was gradual. When my life partner started growing agroecological vegetables, there were already flowers. In 2020, with the pandemic, we decided to stop growing vegetables and replace them with flowers. The pandemic opened my eyes and I finally decided to do what I had always dreamed of one day.

My work is very varied. On the one hand, it is very rewarding, as I never get bored, but on the other hand, it is difficult to organise everything and to be efficient or effective. It also changes a lot with the seasons. In winter, the plants rest, and so do we. We spend our time arranging the infrastructure and preparing the soil to welcome the spring with strength. We plant the seedlings and plan for the next season. We also offer online training courses.In spring, everything explodes, life, fauna, and flora. The sun begins to warm the soil, so it's time to plant all our hardy seedlings. It's when the tulips, anemones, ranunculus, and daffodils bloom. We offer flower arranging workshops, make bouquets to order, and take the first flowers to our florists in Barcelona. At home, we never stop harvesting and we try to sell as much as possible after several months with little income.The garden is full of flowers in the summer. It is also when we have the most work and the most sales. The work starts at 6 a.m. so that the sun doesn't overheat the flowers. We harvest and sell. We hardly have time for anything else, although we still offer workshops and organise weddings. It is a magical season, but very, very intense.In autumn, we continue to harvest –in a temperate climate like ours, the flowers bloom until November. But then it's time to take down the crops, clean up, and plant the tulips, daffodils, and ranunculus that will bloom at the end of winter.And then there's the management, the accounts, talking to customers, suppliers, and event planners. It's non-stop.

A flower that does not bloom in its natural season has either been grown in greenhouses with a high energy impact or has come from another hemisphere, leaving a high ecological footprint due to transport and packaging. Flowers have to be grown and bought at the right time. The pleasure of enjoying them at one time of the year makes us long for them again next season.

Nature reigns. She is always ahead of me. I try to keep up, but it's not always possible, especially in spring and summer, when you can almost see how fast everything is growing and sometimes you don't manage to take it all in. Winter is a good advisor, it's the time to slow down. It is so wise to follow the rhythm of the seasons, and even though I realise I don't always manage to do so, I know that it is the best thing to do.

I am actually de-growing. We are a very small project, less than two hectares under cultivation, but we have decided to reduce the machinery, the speed, the pollution, the waste management. We want to go back to more artisanal and sustainable methods as much as possible. Since flowers are more profitable than vegetables, we have also reduced the surface area, and this means we use less water while maintaining income.

It's a magical moment for me, I love it. I like to think of myself as sociable, but I often work alone and don't get out of the farm very often. It is a way of achieving a balance, it connects me with people and with the outside world. I like to see how happy the women are to be able to harvest their own flowers and then make their own arrangements. Being able to see the whole process, from planting the seed that comes from Horta de la Viola, until they make their own arrangement at home, is something magical.

First of all, it is not always necessary to buy flowers, you can go for a walk and cut a branch or some wildflowers. If you do buy flowers, choose organic and local flowers, this way you support local farmers and avoid polluting the land. Will they be more expensive? Probably. But I don't think so, because we won't have to decontaminate the soil or use resources to cure so many diseases that are probably triggered by some toxic substance.To make a bouquet, start by placing your sticks in a vase. Make a combination of a large flower (focal point), some greenery (the neutral colour in floral art), and some filler (small flower). Nature is beautiful, you can put some simple grasses in a vase and they will give a new air to your home.

I really appreciate the fact that flowers are ephemeral, their beauty and short lifespan make me appreciate them even more.

For me, beauty is something holistic and all-encompassing. There is an aesthetic part that attracts me visually, but I also see beauty in the intangible, such as the character of a person, in a friendship, in the silence after an overwhelming day, in the sea breeze after a day in the sun, in the passing of time after enjoying each stage of life.