ROOTED IN JOY: PRIORITIZING REST, BALANCE, & JOY, with DANDY RAM FARM

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This week on Cultivating Place, guest host Ben Futa is sitting in for Jennifer Jewell. He is joined by Bo Dennis, lead farmer and designer of Dandy Ram Farm.

Dandy Ram is an LGBTQ+ flower farm and floral design studio based in Monroe, ME and which sustainably grows and designs florals for weddings locally and ships evergreen and floral products nationally. Bo has been farming in Maine for 16 years and started Dandy Ram in 2019. He previously farmed livestock and organic diversified vegetables.

The goal of Dandy Ram is to bring joy while always centering as well a just and sustainable relationship with the land and its people. Some of the work they do includes providing a community space and supportive learning environment for other rural queer and trans farmers. 

Ben and Bo's conversation today is fitting for the start of a new year, as we explore prioritizing rest, balance, and joy, especially in a career that is so deeply tied to the seasons. They talk about favorite plants, community building, and living authentically. And they explore the power of intentionality, bravery, and

liberation through flowers.

Bo, and Dandy Ram, hold a deep commitment to regenerative and restorative farming and community building, including reclaiming joy and prioritizing balance in all aspects of farming.

So pleased to feature Bo Dennis and his heart centered work on Cultivating Place.

From Ben:

So much of our conversation today centered around authenticity and purpose in the context of plants, and in this spirit, I want to share a final quick story with you.

I’ve been following Bo’s work for just over a year, having discovered Dandy Ram via Instagram. At the time, I was just starting to think about how our business could incorporate high-quality, fresh, local, and sustainably grown ingredients into our own practice of wreath-making.

I love that Bo talked about his relationship with the Balsam Fir, because that’s the same story he shared on Instagram way back when that also inspired me to go out and purchase a bunch of Juniper on clearance from our locally-owned garden center. I distinctly remember one of their team members looking at the back of my truck, overflowing with cultivars of different colors and forms and textures, and asking, “What in the heck are you planning to do with all of those?”

My answer was instant: “These are going to be wreaths!” A few days later, they became a hedge in my back garden, and not long ago in mid-November, underwent their first tip-cut harvest. We sold the wreaths in our Shop, and every single one went to a loving home.

I shared this story with Bo when I invited him to Cultivating Place, because as I was reflecting on this year of exhaustion and burnout, I realized also, the incredible joy that comes with growing something beautiful to share with someone else, and he very much inspired me to explore that this year, and I wanted him to know that.

Without a doubt, these junipers and this first batch of wreaths were a highlight of 2024, and something I’ll absolutely be taking with me into 2025 and beyond. Thanks, Bo. I owe you one.

Follow Bo Online :

dandyramfarm.com

And on Instagram:

@dandyramfarm

All images courtesy of Bo Dennis, Dandy Ram Farm. All rights reserved.

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If you enjoyed this program, you might also enjoy these

Best of CP programs in our archive:

Growing Gently & The Healing Power Of Flower w/ Honeysuckle & Hilda's Claire Bowen

Longwood Reimagined, with CEO & Public Garden Leader, Paul Redman

Flora & Forage, and The Secret Stories Of Wildflowers, Blue Ridge Botanic's Nina Veteto

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JOIN US again next week, when Jennifer is back in conversation with Nicole Burke, author of the new book, the 5-minute Gardener. Nicole is also the author of Kitchen Garden Revival, and Leaves, Roots, and Fruit. That's right here, next week.

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Cultivating Place is made possible in part by listeners like you and by generous support from

The Catto Shaw Foundation,

supporting initiatives that empower women and help preserve the planet through the intersection of environmental advocacy, social justice, and creativity.

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Thinking out loud this week...

Hey, y’all its Ben-

My conversation with Bo is coming at such a good time in my own life. I don’t know about you, but if I had to sum up my own experience of 2024 in a single word: exhaustion, quickly rises to the top.

We tackled a lot of big, heavy, and important things in the past year, and as I reached the end of 2024, I could feel the deep, deep burnout setting in, right to the core of my soul. We’re talking no fumes left in the tank, fully drained, nothing left to give, dragging my body across the finish line. It’s no way to work, and certainly no way to live.

Much of my holiday break has been about starting to unpack those feelings: the why, the how, and the what’s next. I knew, for sure, that I needed to rebalance, to thoughtfully consider what worked last year – and especially, what didn’t. What warrants moving forward, and what needs to change?

I love how Bo frames prioritizing rest and joy, and I also love how he’s intentionally incorporated them into so many aspects of his life. For me, it’s both inspiring and aspirational, and I’m so grateful to be able to share our conversation with you today. Prioritizing rest and joy feels like something a lot of us could benefit from right now, and they’re certainly things I’ll be bringing forward with me into 2025.

I want to revisit something Bo said, the idea of inviting more people into the things we care about most.

Our business, Botany, is grounded in the idea of empowering more people to grow more plants in more places, because plant lovers can and will save the world, and so I’m often thinking about ways in which we can invite more people into this “room” that we care so much about – a room filled with plants, gardens, cultivation, and community.

There is incredible power in authenticity and vulnerability. It can be difficult to give ourselves permission to step back from the image we *think* we need to produce and share with others through social media, the stories we *think* other people want to hear and to compare ourselves against what *other* people are sharing. When we’re able to let all of that pressure go and change our paradigm to focus instead on just being who we are and leading with that self-love, it’s pretty incredible what can happen next…

For myself, 2024 was a year of rediscovering and reclaiming joy in my own garden. I grew what I wanted, where, and how I wanted. I gave up the pressure of feeling like it always had to be “show ready” – a feeling I inherited from my decade in public horticulture. In large part, I gave up the feeling of leading my garden, and instead, leaned more into being lead. My time outside became more about discovery, observation, and learning – and far less about control or meeting some “Instagramable” standard.

I actually enjoyed gardening in 2024 in a way I haven’t since I was a teenager – no kidding. A key takeaway from it all is that I want more people to feel what I felt this year. I want more people to understand and discover for themselves the incredible power that comes with gardening and living authentically.

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WAYS TO SUPPORT CULTIVATING PLACE

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Cultivating Place is a co-production of North State Public Radio, a service of Cap Radio, licensed to Chico State Enterprises. Cultivating Place is made possible in part listeners just like you through the support button at the top right-hand corner of every page at Cultivating Place.com.

The CP team includes producer and engineer Matt Fidler, with weekly tech and web support from Angel Huracha, weekly communications support by Sheila Stern and Carley Bruckner, transcripts by Doulos Transcription, and regular guest hosting by Abra Lee and Ben Futa. We’re based on the traditional and present homelands of the Mechoopda Indian Tribe of the Chico Rancheria. Original theme music is by Ma Muse, accompanied by Joe Craven and Sam Bevan.

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