July 25, 2026
Our farm is located in central Missouri, in an area that used to be occupied by the Osage Nation. Treaties with European settlers in the early 1800's dramatically reduced their territory, and they were forced to move west. Local tradition says that a lone Osage man named Jake had a disagreement with his band and decided to stay put, settling on the prairie of which my home is now a part. When friends or family wanted to go up and visit him, they would say, "Let's go up to Jake's Prairie". The name stuck, and from the late 1800's through the early 1900's the Jake's Prairie community had its own post office and general store.
Our town is no longer called Jake's Prairie, but a road by that name runs from the heart of our small town out to our farm. I travel this gravel road often, and in ditches on either side of this road that winds over bridges and through neighbor's farms, thousands of native wildflowers bloom throughout the spring and summer. It is easy to imagine that these blooms are offspring of the flowers that Jake enjoyed...mountain mint with its soft grey fuzzy centers and fresh scent, bright clusters of white yarrow, feathery seed heads of prairie grasses, graceful Queen Anne's lace nodding in the breeze and giving way to the intense hue of goldenrod as summer turns to autumn.
It is these flowers that I gathered to create my new wreath kit called "Prairie Sky". Added to soft blue globe thistle and creamy white gomphrena that grow on my farm and remind me of the expanse of sky over the prairie, these wildflowers blend together to make a wreath that really does celebrate the beauty of nature as it used to be--wild and free. I am so excited to share this kit with crafters who love to work with all natural materials...grapevine, moss, linen...and of course, the flowers. Always the FLOWERS! The Prairie Sky wreath will be a gorgeous addition to your home in any season. You can read more about this kit HERE.
