Gardener’s blooms and blessings flourish at Farmers’ Market

It’s a familiar adage: "Stop to smell the roses." But what if your garden overflowed with zinnias, sunflowers, gladiolas and snapdragons, too? It might be a call to pause a little longer.

One Paterson woman who stops for hours to breathe in the fragrance of her abundant flowers is Teresa Engbretson. She's been bursting with love for nature since a child.

"I've always liked flowers, and when I was little, mom had flower patch," Teresa reminisces about her early farm life just outside of Zillah.

And while Teresa worked side by side with her mom sowing flowers and veggies through the years, her mother would eventually plant a seed that she hoped would blossom.

"I met my husband, Craig, in high school when I was a senior," Teresa says about the young man who did custom plowing at her father’s farm. "My mom would bake cookies and have me take them out into the field to him. She had plans."

Romance bloomed and the couple married, moving to Paterson, about 30 miles south of Prosser, in 1979 where there was a lot of land but not much else.

"For me it wasn't a big stretch to do this," Teresa said, remembering the isolation that comes with living on a 100-acre farm. "We didn't have a telephone and there was only a post office down the road." She also remembered how she'd have to drive to use the phone booth.

But life changed with time; cellphones were born and two children were raised. In 2013 the couple made the decision to sell a good portion of their farmland that had grown to 1,700 acres. And that’s when Teresa got a "bee in her bonnet."

“I loved the bouquets of flowers I’d see at Pike’s Market and I talked to others who grew them,” said the fiftyish blonde, who recalls the idea that began to take root and then flourish. “This year I started my bucket van and take flowers to Tri-Cities, Hermiston, and Prosser, a 122-mile loop,” one she and her daughter Katie drive to the farmers markets.

But what name would be perfect for her budding business? One early morning “while the dew is still on the roses” the name My Garden Over Floweth came to her.

“My day starts at 4 or 4:30 a.m.,” the avid gardener says. “I like to get my prayer time in first and then the day always goes better.”

This caring woman likes to make the day better for others, too. It’s not uncommon for her to gift someone – even another vendor – with a flower arrangement at one of the four farmers markets where she and Katie set up shop.

“The most rewarding thing is that it makes them happy,” Teresa comments thoughtfully. “I love the elderly, people with disabilities, and we give them a bouquet. We just want to give them a little something to make them smile.”

When folks stop by to smell the flowers they find not only a gorgeous array from the garden, but a woman whose heart “overfloweth” with love.

Lucy Note: Find out more about My Garden Over Floweth at https://www.facebook.com/MyGardenOverFloweth.

If you have a story idea for Light Notes, email lluginbill@tricityherald.com. Follow Lucy on Twitter @LucyLuginbill

This story was originally published August 31, 2014 at 6:45 AM with the headline "Gardener’s blooms and blessings flourish at Farmers’ Market."