About Us

I moved to Central Oregon in 2009 and within a week had met my future husband, Daniel, who was born and raised in Central Oregon. Soon, we had purchased a starter cattle herd from Daniel's Uncle that we turned into 3 Bar L Livestock selling Premium All-Natural Beef directly to consumers. By 2017, we had grown enough to where we needed our own farm that could grow with our herd and our growing family. 

So, we moved down the road 10 miles and bought a fixer upper farm in Powell Butte, Oregon. We spent the first few years growing our cattle operation, fixing up the barn and house and growing our family to a size of 4. In that time, there was this spot that stood out like a sore thumb. The entire area was rock piles, and below the rock piles was more rock and below that layer of rock was more rock. This is a pretty typical story in Central Oregon where all of our land is built on centuries of eroded volcanic rock, but this particular spot was useless.... even by Central Oregon standards. So, we began plotting a way to make this ground useful.

I grew up among my grandmother's beautiful flower gardens in the Willamette Valley and have always had a passion for wildflowers. So, we started daydreaming about what a flower garden could like in this volcanic rock garden. Daydreaming turned to research, research turned to planning and eventually planning turned into action and soon, we had removed all the above ground rock and used it for road base for our barnyard. We brought in a combination of fill dirt, compost and a lot of sweat to create a series of raised beds and open ground growing areas. 

During the land rush of the 1800's, Central Oregon was one of the last places to be settled, and even then, it took a substantial amount of less than forthcoming marketing to get pioneers to make the hard trek across the Oregon Trail and plant their dreams in the volcanic soil of Central Oregon.  Marketers promised things like long growing seasons, substantial rain fall, temperate climates...basically a farming paradise. The disappointment those settlers must have felt upon arriving is unimaginable, but in the true spirt of the west, they didn't complain, they just set to work with nothing more than their hands, backs and maybe a horse or two building a life for their families. This involved clearing acres of rocks to make marginal pasture and fields. Once the land had been cleared, they still had to deal with the very limited amounts of water in the high desert. Eventually to solve the water problem, an amazing canal system was built to divert water from the local rivers (the Deschutes in the case of Powell Butte) that would eventually bring water in the growing season to this arid climate. 

In contrast to what the early settlers had to deal with, clearing and farming a small portion of our land does not seem like that big of an undertaking, but it did help us appreciate, more than we already did, what so many families sacrificed in order to eke out a living in this unforgiving climate. 

We are very proud of the work we have done on our farm and even more proud of what we have been able to turn this once baren section into. It is a labor of love to be sure, but the magic that comes from working on the flower farm on a warm July evening, while the flowers are blooming, and kids are playing are the ingredients for the best memories. 

We look forward to sharing the fruits of our labor with you and hopefully you can find the same joy in our flowers that we have found in growing them.