“I don’t enjoy spaghetti dinners or doing coin drops to raise money for our team. So I decided to try something that I enjoy to raise money for the team,” said Cheryl Kingsbury, Waitsfield, about her new Seeds to Sleds flower CSA which will raise funds for the Central Vermont Pioneers sled hockey team.
This spring she started Seeds to Sleds Farm at her home on Old County Road in Waitsfield and she’s shoulder deep in flowers grown in indoor greenhouse silos with grow lights in her basement, plus flats of flowers on her porch and deck. She is starting small, hoping for 20 members this first year.
“During COVID, our sled hockey team got out of its fundraising mojo. We used to bring large groups of people together and haven’t gotten back into the swing of it. Also during COVID, I discovered I love flower gardening and making bouquets,” Kingsbury said.
Last year, she had 550 square feet of flowers – this year she’s doubled that.
Her CSA will run 10 weeks, starting July 14 and running through September 13. Her wrapped bouquets will be available for pick up on Thursdays in the beer cooler at the Village Grocery, which she owns with her husband Troy.
People will be able to sign up starting this Thursday, May 25, at the Village Grocery and membership will be first come, first serve.
Kingsbury said she’s excited about raising a lot of flowers she’s never grown before, including 35 different annuals. and is also planning some special events based on flowers and food as part of her fundraising efforts.
One of those special events is a flower bar where she’ll harvest flowers in buckets and people can come make their own bouquets. Another special event idea is a catered wine tasting and dinner for 20 people.
“I hope to do three of them over the summer. Then we’ll see what fall brings. Maybe there will be some workshop ideas,” she explained.
Finally, if she has flowers beyond what she sells, she’d love to do sunshine bouquets, which are free bouquets for people in nursing homes or in hospice care.
“That’s the giving back part,” she said.
“My hope is to keep it small and manageable and not compete with other local flower farmers or undercut them,” she said.
Her goal for this year is to raise $5,000 for the team and she wants to be able to put money back into the flower farm account to support the next year. The annual operating budget for the Central Vermont Pioneers is approximately $25,000.
In addition to her new CSA, Kingsbury works full time in special education at Warren School.
