For many who do their jobs from home, most tasks often involve sitting in front of a laptop screen for the bulk of the day.
Interconnectivity can be great for efficient communication, but being increasingly tethered to social media and text messaging as a matter of routine has caused many to seek out solutions for a healthier work-life balance.
As owner-operator of Wolfsong Flowers, Lara Jackson’s business model was informed by an educational background in horticulture and designed as a way to be closer to her family. The artist, entrepreneur and mother of two runs a flower preservation studio and micro cut flower farm from the Bogart home that she and her husband bought in 2018.
Growing up in Augusta, Jackson helped her mother tend a small vegetable garden that included marigolds and some tropical plants, but there were no agriculture classes at the private school she attended. It wasn’t until Jackson started taking horticulture classes at the University of Georgia that she was exposed to the people and places that would shape her future career.
“I went on garden tours in four European countries as part of my undergraduate and graduate studies, and something just clicked,” Jackson said. “But I didn’t want to move across the country to work at a big nursery or greenhouse. I wanted to raise a family and be available to my kids in a way that I didn’t experience as a child.”
After Jackson graduated from UGA in 2010, she and her husband worked in the hospitality industry while he worked on a teaching degree. It was during that time that Jackson was inspired by a former classmate who began working with retired UGA horticulturist Dr. Allan M. Armitage and started a small farm in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Jackson and her husband bought their home in Bogart and opened Wolfsong Flowers one year later in 2019.
Jackson spent the first year taking business classes at Athens Land Trust taught by Rita O’Brien of R&R Secret Flowers and Sherrie Anderson of the Marigold Market, where Jackson first set up as a vendor. For the past three years, Jackson has been a florist for Earth Fare natural and organic grocery store in Athens and creates original works of art using flower pressing techniques that she also uses to preserve wedding bouquets and to make jewelry.
“This is my song,” said Jackson. “We’re not rich, but it’s worth it to be able to be there when the bus drops off my kids, take them to swim practice and help make costumes for the school play. It’s been my life’s challenge to put myself out there, but I’m providing for my family while I’m doing it.”
Want to contact Wolfsong Flowers? Visit https://www.wolfsongflowers.com.
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