Follow The Blooms

(lively music) - I'm Katie Lila.

I make art displays out of fresh-cut flowers.

Wow, this is looking so fabulous.

Flowers really are nature's art, and I love using them as my medium.

So fun.

Like these little fantasy flower worlds that people can interact with.

Oh my gosh, this is stunning!

I want this for my bedroom wall.

It's hard to be around flowers without smiling.

Wait, that is crazy.

I love looking at something and being like, "Ooh, how could we make that into something that could be in a flower installation?"

This is out of control.

I love it.

Oh my goodness.

A lot of variables, a lot of question marks.

How's it gonna go?

How's it gonna play out?

Woo!

You did it!

(clapping) (upbeat music) My install team is amazing.

They just jump in action and fill in all the weird requests.

So come "Follow the Blooms" with us.

You never know where the adventure's headed.

(bright music) - [Narrator] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by... (energetic music) (bright music) (lively music) - [Presenter] Slate Flosser, a daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes, and tongue-cleaning all in one system.

Designed for every age.

Slate Flosser, the other toothbrush.

(lively music) - Today we're here at Spokane Falls Community College.

They're getting ready for their 50-Year Gala.

We've been invited to collaborate with the students to make something fabulous for this event.

Got to their first meeting, and discovered it was in October, and was thinking, "Oh, bummer," because I like to create with local in-season stuff.

And they're like, "What's blooming in October?"

(laughs) I'm like, "Nothing's blooming in October."

And then Alyssa chimed in, "Oh, wheat is growing in October."

And then snowballed into, "Let's create something with wheat."

So, that was cool and fun, and very unexpected.

(energetic music) We're so excited to go visit the farm today.

The wheat goes on and on.

It's time to harvest, so we've got to get out there and see what's happening before they're flat.

Hey, guys.

(door thuds) - How's it going?

- How's it going?

- Good.

- Good.

- Love this little farm.

- Thank you.

This is for you.

- This is beautiful.

- Picked from my little cutting garden.

- Beautiful.

- I love that.

- Good to meet you.

- You too.

- Good luck.

- Thanks for coming out, yep.

- Cool, well, thanks for having me.

- Yeah, we're glad you could join us out here today.

- I know.

- Usually, we do flowers, but today it's wheat.

- When we get to the farm, immediately, I see the wheat as one big, beautiful vista.

And then as you get closer, it's beautiful, even when you're up close, individually.

The texture is just so interesting and stunning with all of its movement.

(birds chirping) Hard, crunchy.

It's a really yummy flavor.

- Yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

I can taste a cookie in there.

- See how that could make some really delicious flour.

(both laughing) I'm Alyssa Johnson, and this is my husband, Mark Johnson.

And we are wheat farmers out in Latah, Washington.

We have three kids, two boys and a girl.

We have known each other most of our lives.

We went to the same school, and we're actually high school sweethearts.

We got married and went to college, and afterwards decided that farming was the life for us.

- My grandma and grandpa had purchased this farm in the '50s.

Eventually, it went to my dad.

He farmed it for a while, and then when we graduated college, he decided he was ready to retire.

And so, that was my opportunity to take the reins and start farming.

It was kind of a tough decision, but we kind of just went with it, and so far so good.

- Yeah, all the doors kind of opened that direction.

It just seemed like the right way for us to go, so we did.

- We primarily do dry-land winter wheat around here.

That's what this crop is out here.

That means it's seeded in the fall time in October.

The places like the Midwest usually average around 40 bushels an acre and up... Up here in the Palouse we should... We usually average about 80 bushels an acre.

Well, Katie, are you ready to hit the combine?

- Yes.

Let's do it.

Riding in the combine, super fun.

Jumping up there like Farmer Jane, watching that blade, something I never thought I'd get to do.

(mandolin music (mandolin music Mark, that was so fun, thank you.

I've always wanted to ride a combine.

Now I can check that one off my bucket list.

But I know it's not all glamor around here, right?

There's got to be some hard things.

Tell us some of the highs and lows.

- Yeah, so some of the good things is just being able to work out here on this land.

And just to get to see the beauty throughout the year, the different seasons, and to see it in the spring, the green little seedlings grow up all summer into the beautiful golden crop that you see today.

Some of the bad things are trying to mitigate some of the uncontrollable factors out there, such as weather or commodity prices.

- Thank you so much for having me out here, but I know there's a whole other part to your life.

We want to meet those kiddos.

- All right.

- So they should be coming off the bus, right?

- Yeah.

- Yes.

- Okay.

(everybody laughs) Let's go meet them.

- All right.

- Perfect.

(lively music) Future Wheat Farmers of America.

- That's right.

(everybody laughs) Or at the very least, our future farm hands.

(everybody laughs) - Henry.

- Henry.

Got a good handshake.

- Lucy.

- Lucy.

- I'm Jack.

- Jack.

Jack, you're the shrimp of the group.

(everybody laughs) Well, good to meet you guys.

I'm Katie Lila.

- Hi.

- And just excited to work with your mom.

We were out cruising on the combine today with your dad.

We're here at Alyssa and Mark's house.

And it's fun to kind of see their big farm, and then go to their house, meeting their kiddos, each with their different fun personalities, heading out to the garden, picking some veggies, and just getting a real perspective of the life of this great couple.

- I enrolled at SFTC about two years ago.

I just graduated in June, and they asked the interior design students if we would help kind of create a design idea for the gala.

So I created a vision board.

They loved it.

And we're kind of moving forward with designing the decorations, and the feel of the gala around that.

- That was so fun when I figured out that, you know, you mentioned your farmer, your husband, was a wheat farmer.

- Mm-hmm.

- And we wanted to keep it local.

- Yeah.

- And in October, there's not much blooming in Spokane.

- Right, right.

- So, the idea of having something local- - Yeah.

- That celebrates the harvest here.

- Mm-hmm.

- And just celebrates that community is really gonna be something- - Yeah.

And I love that we're doing something with the wheat because the wheat is such a big part of Eastern Washington and the culture here with agriculture, small communities, you know, that's what the college was about, was creating a place where local people could come and get a quality education.

And it's really neat that I got to be a part of the college, and it's fun to be a part of this, and to give back a little bit.

- I always think it's fun when you meet someone, and they wow you being even cooler than you could have imagined.

So, Mark and Alyssa, it's kind of like the more you get to know them, the more you want to hang out with them, right?

I'm like, "Wait, can we hang out after this?"

A few weeks later, my boys and I are back at the farm to harvest the end of the wheat for our project.

My friend, Sunshine Giesler, and her boys come along, too.

She is an interior design teacher at the college and was the initial connection for this project.

We're here hedge-trimming down the wheat.

Everyone is waist-deep in it, learning that we need to be wearing long pants and socks.

- It's time to work, not time to make pictures.

- (laughs) Get to work, Mom.

Stop taking pictures.

- Yeah, get to work!

- We wanted to get as much wheat as we can into this car, and I'm hoping that we have enough wheat.

It was very prickly, a very fun and beautiful, but itchy affair.

(lively music) It's finally design day.

This project has been a long time coming.

I'm used to like one, two-month projects.

This one's been a long time coming.

(laughs) So how long has this wheat been like sitting in the room for?

- Mm, three weeks.

We made the frame.

We're figuring out how to battle this wheat into something stunning.

(lively music) And then, we're just going to put the wheat on.

It's a new medium, right?

I've never worked with wheat.

It's really different.

The wheat is prickly and brittle, and it's just a lot different than flowers.

Two-thirds design, one-third in the middle.

So, of the open space, you'll be able to see through, right?

- Mm-hmm.

- And this is gonna hang from the ceiling, and it will be six feet.

We had a lot of thoughts with the wheat.

You know, I've been Pinteresting and researching, and everything under the sun, trying to find anything I can get my eyes on that has to do with wheat.

Turns out there's not that much wheat design going on.

(laughs) One of the students on the design team brought the invitation, and it had this gorgeous kind of 1920s-esque burst on the invitation.

And immediately, I was like, "Ah, there it is."

(scene change whooshing) This is the event space.

It's what we have to work with.

It's bland.

It's not great.

- Okay, it's not Horrible.

- It's not great, right?

- It's not doing much.

We're coming from, our last installation was at the library, which was this architectural wonder.

The lighting was beautiful.

Everything was beautiful.

And now, it's just a conference room with bare walls and not that great of lighting, and you know, kind of a little bit lower ceilings.

And so, how do we make it look chic and elevated in design, and somewhere you want to be?

- Hey, guys.

- Oh, hey, girl.

Good to see you, come on in.

Come in.

- Oh, this is looking great.

- [Katie] Yay, I know.

Can you see the vision?

- Yes, yeah, it's so good.

If not, you can look at my really awesome drawing.

- Yes- - It's coming together.

(everybody laughs) - Oh, that's going to look so good.

- I'm excited to see the students.

We've been sitting at the meetings, and chatting, and visualizing for months.

It's fun to see them here ready to work.

But I am going to have you girls start on the wheat rain.

in the little shadowbox stage.

- Yeah.

- And they're super excited.

It's always fun to work with students because they're just so... They have so much willingness, right?

And energy, and just joy around a project.

So what I'm thinking is, what we estimated was like 80 strands of wheat.

And I was looking at these grids, and thinking to do like six strands per square.

So if you can kind of think of that.

So you want space between them so they're doing their own thing.

And you don't want anything on the same level, right?

So you don't want anything the same height or the same plane this way.

- My name is Addie.

I am an SFCC Interior Design student.

We're here to help create the wheat sculpture for the gala that's happening.

It's really fun to be involved.

It makes me feel like I'm doing more of a part in the school, and you know, contributing more.

And it's just really great to see as students that our work is really already getting out there.

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - Every time I come in here to see their design, they're just rocking it, and working together, and making their own little systems.

And on the ladder, I was like, "Please don't anybody fall off the ladder."

(laughs) But they spent, you know, four or five hours on that ladder.

I need something behind that wheat to make it pop out.

And so, I'm looking, I'm trying to get with event rents, and see if they can get us some rod and curtain to put behind the wheat.

That little section of the stage.

I just need a black drape.

- Okay, and- - Back there.

- So we could do, we have seven-foot-to-12-foot high adjustables.

That would probably work.

- The backdrop was a necessity.

The wheat started going up, and it just looked blase.

It faded into the background.

Once we got the curtain up, it made all the difference.

- You can see the wheat now.

- Yeah, right, you can see the wheat.

You know, what's the point if you can't see it, right?

- Yeah.

(laughs) - And now... Now we can see the sculptural elements of the wheat.

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) - It's really exciting.

We've had a lot of new instruments come in, a lot of new tech.

And the students actually get to do a lot of hands-on work with newer stuff that they're seeing amongst the city of Spokane already.

And it's actually a pretty proud moment because a lot of the theaters around Spokane, actually, about half of the crews are from SFCC.

- What do you think?

Do you think two lights going like this is enough?

Or do you think you want to... The four lights will be too overkill?

- Four might be too much, but I've got plenty, let's play around with them.

- Yeah.

- Sure.

Creating shadows, creating something dynamic to assist in the structure itself, yeah.

- The lighting guys here are going to light the wheat.

You know, we're catching up on the wheat burst.

I want to get that hung so we can light it.

And then I think everything is in place.

I just went to the hardware store and got the board.

They cut it in half for me, four-foot-square.

And then my friend had a jigsaw.

And that was my first time with a jigsaw.

So cool.

Found these D-rings at the hardware store also.

You know, just drilled those in, getting fancy with my power tools.

And I can reuse this frame for so many things.

(lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) We're stapling these bunches on, and every... As the design grows, I know we're not going to be able to do that other side.

The other side, there's lots of logistical reasons why that's going to be a big flop.

So what I realized was it took so much product, so much wheat to build this thing.

You know, we filled up my entire car with wheat and it made this.

And so, thankfully, we have enough.

So we just need to stick with the one side, put all of our energy there, and really, you know, make that side the showstopper.

And I think it's really working without doing anything else to it.

Just letting the wheat speak for itself.

- I'm happy with it.

(clapping) - You think?

- Mm-hmm.

- Woo!

(both high-fives) (everybody laughs) Okay.

- I think I'm just going to lift it.

- Okay.

- On the side, right?

I know you were talking about how this is going to be 15 pounds.

I was like, okay.

Okay.

That's pretty heavy.

Okay.

Let's see.

It's okay.

Just don't put it down here.

We're just moving now.

Just going.

No turning back.

Anyways, ceiling, doors.

Okay?

Yes.

you up.

Okay.

Oh.

Oh, look.

Yeah.

No, no!

(laughter) Oh, no.

All right.

Oh!

It's not going that well.

Oh!

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Carrying this thing in the rain through doorways and into the convention hall.

With my arms are cringing.

It was a big disaster.

Thankfully, this giant cheerio doesn't crash to the ground and fall apart.

We're only losing one bundle.

That's not too bad.

We've got, I don't know, like 100 and something bundles on there.

So one bundle down.

We are plugging away with this thing.

You okay?

Oh.

Katie laugh laughs Harder than I thought.

So we'll put it through the D-ring.

I'll put it through here.

-Okay.

And then I'll just slide it in.

Perfect.

And I'll go over there and do the same.

And then we can pull these to any length.

-Okay.

Okay.

Hold on.

I've got to lift this up.

It's heavy.

It's heavy.

That is unexpected.

I didn't expect it to be so heavy.

And it's floppy.

You know, everyone's just muscling it up.

What I think will be simple is not simple.

Wheat is flopping into everyone's hair and eyes, and I'm just like, hold it up, but close your eyes.

It's holding it.

- Woo.

There we go.

Woo, woo!

- [Addie] It's beautiful.

- I feel like we're going to call it... I'm not going to be paralyzed for perfection, and we're going to call it... (laughs) (lively music) - We're here at SFCC.

We get to get a little sneak peek at the amazing piece of art that Katie has been creating out of our wheat, and we are so excited to see it.

- Yeah, we took the opportunity today with the rain to get out of the field and off the tractor for a bit to come check out what she's created.

- Hey, guys.

- Hi.

- Hello.

Aw, thanks for coming.

- Good to see you again.

- You too.

Hey, Mark.

You're a handshaker?

- Yes.

- All right.

(Alyssa laughs) I can appreciate that.

Courtney, you brought some friends.

- Hi.

Yeah.

- Hello.

- Courtney, what's your friend's name?

- Sydney.

- Hey, Sydney.

Good to meet you, I'm Katie Lila.

- Kenneth, nice to meet you.

- Kenneth.

- Yeah, thanks for being here.

You guys wanna see, Courtney's been working all day.

We've both been like sweating in wheat.

- Yeah, I found wheat in my pocket, so I was like, oh, no.

- I know, right, I've been like picking it out of my socks.

(everybody laughs) Yeah, come and check it out.

- Yeah.

- See what it was on there.

- I'm excited with the lighting.

(chuckles) (lively music) - Wow.

- Oh my God.

That is awesome!

- You grew that.

- That's beautiful.

(everybody marvels) (lively music) Wow, that's the best art we've ever looked.

(everybody laughs) (lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) The guests of the gala are in for a treat, this is amazing.

It really is.

Like you don't get stuff like this ever.

(everybody laughs) Can I take it home?

(everybody laughs) I was trying to, yeah.

(laughs) Put it on my front door.

(laughs) - The trick would be how to get it- - Move it.

(laughs) - Mark is genuinely just delighted and surprised with the outcome of his work that has become this beautiful art piece.

Something I don't think he ever expected.

- So fun, just the little curve of all the little heads and the shapes they make.

- Great design.

- Yeah.

- I love the lighting in here, too.

That really just adds another layer of coolness.

- Totally, thank you.

(everybody laughs) It was such a cool collaboration with the students.

- It really was.

- And the lighting students.

And I mean, we've been working on this for like four months.

- Yeah.

- Five months.

But how long has the wheat been growing?

- Oh.

(everybody laughs) - Not 10 months.

- This was planted a year- - Yeah, a year ago, wow.

- Yep.

- Yeah.

- A year in the making.

- Yeah.

- That's pretty incredible.

He shared a little bit with our team that he never gets to see the end result of his work.

And how fun to see something so unexpected.

Maybe not flower at the grocery store, but you know, a big piece for everyone to enjoy.

- This is incredible.

It turned out way cooler than anything I imagined.

And it's just so fun to see Katie's creative vision come to life.

- Yeah.

- The guests for the gala are in for such a surprise.

- Our wheat is beautiful in the field, but here, was taken to another level.

- They're for you, Katie.

- Aw.

(Alyssa laughs) - I brought you some flowers.

- Thank you.

- You brought me flowers the first time that you came out.

I'm returning the favor.

Katie's a genius.

(both laughing) She's awesome.

(scene change whooshing) - Woo, okay, what a day.

Going from flowers to wheat, it was a big adjustment.

We had a lot of fun.

We had to get innovative, but I would say we knocked it out of the park.

So thanks for flowering with us.

See you next time on "Follow the Blooms."

(upbeat music) (vocals chanting) (upbeat music) ♪ Hey ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Hey ♪ - [Narrator] "Follow the Blooms" is made possible by... (energetic music) (bright music) - [Presenter] Slate Flosser, a daily routine that brings together woven floss, gum brushes, and tongue-cleaning all-in-one system, designed for every age.

(flosser clattering) Slate Flosser, the other toothbrush.

- [Katie] For more information about this and other episodes or links to follow my flower adventures on social media, visit flowersforpeople.co.

(vocals chanting) (upbeat music) (vocals chanting) (upbeat music) (lively music)