My Story
Plants & art have always played a huge role in my life. From the time I could walk, my Nana began teaching me how to grow things. My Granddad taught me how to paint and draw as soon as I could hold a Crayon. Creating, nurturing and caring for living things just became part of who I am. From my initial career as a NICU nurse, to Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, to Real Estate Agent helping people find homes for their families to grow, I've spent most of my life helping others; always with a garden and some artwork on the side.
When I got married, my art and my love for plants were forced to the back-burner. I found myself in an abusive marriage, stripped of everything that made me who I am, extremely unhappy and just trying to survive one day at a time. I was dying on the inside and just didn't have anything left within myself to nurture or to pour out on canvas. After a decade, I finally found enough strength to leave and I've never looked back.
I survived solely by faith.
I found myself a single mom to four kids with crippling C-PTSD & anxiety. I was so broken. I did all the things to assist with my healing. I dove back into painting and drawing and started working in my yard again. Slowly, my love for art and for growing things returned.
During that time, I met a fellow abuse-survivor through a Facebook group. She was selling succulents at her small local nursery business and we became fast friends. Her shop became my happy place. I felt joy again and soaked up every bit of information she shared about her plants. She was a fountain of knowledge and her knowledge sparked an intense passion in me. Her mentoring gave me the ability to keep even the rarest of plants alive and I was hooked.
When my friend ended up moving to another state for her safety, we continued our friendship through texting and Facebook. She continued to mentor me, pray for me, and I for her. Then one day, she encouraged me to open up my own nursery and the concept for Rooted was born.
I truly believe that both plants & art have healing properties. Even if you don't have a green thumb or an artistic bone in your body, the benefits of touching soil and/or putting color on canvas are astounding. Rooted is a place of encouragement & growth. A place for nurturing your soul. A place where you are accepted for who you are. A place to help you find your passion. I am so glad you're here.
Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.