People often ask why I named our company Camas Designs. Truth be told, it was Robert, my husband who came up with the name. Camas is a wildflower native to this area (Pacific Northwest) and blooms in the Spring. Its leaves are grass like and quite non-descript, but the flowers rise on sturdy stems and have the most beautiful purple flowers with bright yellow anthers (where the pollen is produced). Camas was historically used as food by many indigenous peoples in the Pacific Northwest and its root was used by Lewis and Clark’s expedition for some much-needed sustenance. For me, what was appealing about the flower being a name for our company was the feeling I get when I see it first emerge in spring here on San Juan Island. I always feel hopeful…hopeful that spring is truly here, the winter months are behind us, the days will be getting longer, and we’ll soon be laughing with friends around a bonfire in the warm summer evenings. I’ll soon be in the flower markets surrounded by the bounty that is spring and the colleagues that are truly friends.
As I add this blog to our new website, its spring 2020 and we’re in the midst of a pandemic. Never in all my life did I think I’d write those words. Yesterday, my husband came in from working on our property to let me know the Camas was blooming and we went out to the fields to admire its first sight. And the same feeling rose up…hope. Hope that a new normal can emerge…hope that we will once again be able to laugh around a bonfire with friends and hope that my beloved profession will reappear spreading joy and love to all our wedding couples and we’ll be stronger for all that we’ve been through.
Photo by Robert Shackelford Photography
Comments