A golden hue lit the flora blue at Mama Farm land and the surrounding acres as Rowan Loren dug up purple, white-tipped tulips, coaxed from seed on the three-quarter-acreage she and partner Christian Roarke rent in Brookhaven. Roarke was working the soil nearby to grow the specialty herbs he sells to Flynn McGarry, the owner and chef ofCove NYC. Besides tulips and daffodils, there were other colorful blooms that would wind up in wedding bouquets and cheery vases. Sunflowers, summer dahlias, specialty zinnias, celosia, larkspur, corncockle, bergamot, and bee balm were rising in a riot of color, first as part of the landscape, then arranged into gorgeous bouquets and table settings as part of the couple’s creative offerings from their sustainable design studio. A Mother’s Day Plant and Flower sale, Sat. May 9 will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the stand on the Center for Environmental Education and Discovery (CEED) property next door, off South Country Road. (You can order online atwww.florablue.studio.) It will be open on weekends.

“We integrate a lot of native flowers, plants that attract pollinators, and medicinal herbs like sage,” Loren said. “You’ll find unexpected flowers in your bouquet, like scabiosa (referred to as the pincushion flower) and amaranth. This year, for the first time, we tried edible pansies and snapdragons.”

The couple has two daughters, and lives nearby in a cottage on the land.

“We do everything by hand,” Roarke said. “We utilize all organic practices and established our business with a desire to serve the community and provide education.”

They have, in fact, taught sustainable gardening classes at the Center for CEED, their next-door neighbor. They also offer opportunities for gardening volunteers. Regenerative farming utilizes a holistic approach to restore soil health and encourage biodiversity and ecosystem services. (No pesticides permitted!)

“I think about selection, sourcing, and where am I getting seeds from,” Loren said. The planting starts around late winter. Loren offers specialty tulips, “More unique, rare bulbs you won’t see in grocery stores,” she said, as well as larkspur and celosia, among other gorgeous blooms. They offer CSA subscriptions: Late Spring Peony & Mixed Flower Bouquet and Fall Dahlia & Mixed Flower Bouquet, both for three weeks.

With sunlight bathing the rows of trees lining the walkway to their small farm, vistas of percolating soil, and grazing and lounging animals (heritage chicken coops are on either side of their land), the area as a whole presents an enduring scene of wellbeing. Mama Farm was formed in 2013 by actressIsabella Rossellini, and its 28 acres are protected by a conservation easement. Rossellini began with bees, heritage chickens, and turkeys, and has since added ducks, sheep, a CSA (produce by farmer Patty Gentry, who rents land), and a bed & breakfast and wedding venue, which daughter Elettra Wiedeman runs. The young farm couple rented their land from Wiedeman in 2023.

Loren and Roarke both look like models. “We’re farm fit,” joked Loren, who attributed their lean physiques to the early hours, parenting their daughters, and farm work. Loren started out in the creative field and attended F.I.T. “That’s why my design background transferred into florals,” she said. “I had been doing commercial acting work, then moved to L.A. during the Covid lockdown and started questioning what my calling was and how I could be in nature and service to the community.”

After a couple of stints there, as well as at a women’s retreat farm center in Colorado, she traveled to Hawaii’s Big Island, applied to volunteer for a permaculture internship at Ginger Hills Farm, and met Roarke there.

“He left Long Island when he was 26 and traveled to the Big Island for the first time to work in nature on a farm and has had over a decade of organic farming,” Loren said. “We had our first daughter in Hawaii. Then I wanted to be near family.”

Source: LI Press