Hope springs Eternal
The first day of spring is a holiday in my house, and it’s not for the reason you might think. Two years ago, on March 20, 2023, my daughter, Bryn, was discharged from the NICU. She spent 231 total days in the hospital, almost the first year of her life. She was born at 26 weeks 3 days gestation and weighed only 1 pound, and it took her almost eight months to wean to home oxygen so that we could leave the hospital.
For three seasons, my husband, Owen, and I watched the world pass by outside her hospital room window. We spent the hot summer watching zinnias planted around the hospital wilt in the heat as we navigated the early days of NICU life. We spent the crisp fall seeing the leaves change and watching football games on an iPad as we spent 12-hour shifts at her bedside. In the winter, we watched snow fall as we celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah by decorating her open crib. In the New Year, we even transferred to Stanford Children’s Hospital for specialty care.
Holidays in the NICU
By the time Bryn actually turned a corner, growing enough and breathing well enough to discuss discharge, spring was arriving. When they told us her discharge date, March 20, I felt so hopeful and yet, we were afraid. Many of you have brought home newborn babies, so you know the feeling as new parents. Amplify that by spending almost a year with a full hospital staff taking care of your baby’s every need and then sending you off on your own. We felt terrified.
Exiting the NICU at Stanford Children’s Hospital
But we made it home. We took tiny steps. We put her in a car seat (!) in a car (!) and went through airport security (!) with an oxygen compressor (!). We got on a plane (!), got off the plane (!) and finally ended the day on our sofa (!) in our home (!) with our dog (!). Every moment was a milestone.
I look back now, two years gone by, and I feel so grateful for my daughter’s journey. It has given me so much perspective on what it means to be a human being on this planet. Just the energy it takes to be born and to survive and to grow and to laugh and to play and to just be on this beautiful, living Earth. I watch her joyfully move around the garden, talking to “teeny tiny baby rocks” and sniffing a “fowler” with her complete attention. I am amazed at her every single day. She is a gift, to me, to our family and to the world.
Our colorful girl enjoying our community garden
Bryn’s journey has taught me of my own resilience, too. She’s shown me that I am stronger than I think, and that when I don’t think I have any energy left, I have an entire community of people who support me. The Gold Feather Gardens community is part of that in a big way. When I had to step away from the business in August of 2022 to care for my daughter, the community I had built supported me. Teresa Nygard, the saint that she is, stepped up and shepherded installations to completion and maintained gardens with the wonderful Yesenia Ineck’s help and humor.
When Teresa left for Italy, Bryn had just turned a year old, and I was ready to tiptoe back into the business. I admit, I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue growing GFG. I felt unmotivated and exhausted all the time - adjusting to home life was hard. During the 2023-2024 season, I gave myself time to get reacquainted with our clients and gardens, hire more staff and learn how to design a business that would give me the flexibility to be with my daughter full-time and bring gardens to folks in Boise. I also spent time documenting what we have built so far.
Throughout the filming process, I felt continually struck by the incredible team of people I have the honor of working with every day. Their joy in the work they do, the creativity they bring to our projects and their attention to detail all combine to create artful, experiential gardens for our clients and their communities. We highlight some of my favorite local businesses and the visual impact of the gardens jumps off the screen.
Again, this film is a beautiful representation of the business I’ve built, but I didn’t do it alone. With the help of my family and friends, and the welcoming and compassionate community in Boise, Gold Feather Gardens has grown not only the confidence of gardeners, but my confidence as a person. To our staff, our vendors and our clients, I thank you. You have taken my vision and made it real, and I am so grateful to be doing this work alongside you. I hope to continue doing it for years to come.
I’ve always been drawn to story and narrative, and the stories behind our gardens and the people who create them are what keeps me growing this business. I invested in this film to inspire you to grow something beautiful in your own space, and to show you what working in community with other gardeners can look and feel like. I hope that this film answers any questions you have about the type of work we do, and I hope it shows you the philosophy behind the gardens we create.
To you and all the seeds you sow this season, I wish you luck, peace and joy.
With gratitude,
Jamie Brennan,
CEO/Founder of Gold Feather Gardens