Nurse’s full-circle journey to creating Olalla flower farm

Published 1:30 am Monday, April 6, 2026

Imagine you wake up, your eyelids feel light as you lift them to see dew from overnight hugging your bedroom window. The air is crisp, but light is peaking through the condensation like a mosaic. You lift up your hand, wiping the glass to see a sea of flowers growing beyond your walls. The colors are so vibrant, you open the window to get a better look at what is waiting for you in the garden, the petals thirsty for the Washington rain, and the leaves stretching upward, begging to be touched by the sun. It’s been ten years since you left the city for a rural community in South Kitsap. The sweet air fills your lungs from outside as you get ready for another day at your family-run farm. That’s just a typical spring day for Becky Durant.

In 2016, Durant and her family moved from Tacoma to a quiet five acres in Olalla, where a fixer-upper sat that would soon become home. After scrubbing, painting, cleaning, replacing floors and walls, and purchasing a few pairs of rubber boots, Durant was ready to create something new.

She wanted something more, and she had the courage to try. What Durant described as an overgrown jungle would soon become home to Olalla Blooms Flower Farm, which sits on about a quarter acre of her land. There wasn’t a polished vision for what the future held for Durant in Olalla, but she was willing to trade comfort for possibility, and her flower farm began operating six years later in 2022.

Now in 2026, the Kitsap locals’ gardens are quite literally blooming. Located in the heart of Olalla, Durant and her family grow and sell seasonal flowers at weddings, events with their flower cart, farmers markets, and they also host flower arranging classes for the community.

The flower season typically runs from April through October. With two helping hands in the summer, flowers are harvested in the early morning before the sun heats up the earth. In the afternoon, Durant spends her time replying to emails, social media, and marketing for her business with the help of her husband, who also built the flower cart for her, Durant shared.

The list is long for flower varieties that Durant grows each year, and it is always changing, from ranunculus and stock to daffodils, tulips, and snapdragons. Durant starts most all of her flowers from seed herself, utilizing her winter months to deep dive seed catalogs to prepare for the spring.

“I would absolutely not think this would be my life looking back. We just wanted space and peace and something that was out of the city,” Durant said. “We started a little garden and I honestly didn’t see it moving beyond that. It makes sense now, looking back on it. Being from a farm community when I was growing up, I didn’t really appreciate the agriculture, but it all kind of came full circle.”

The florist grew up in Eastern Oregon in a small agricultural town, with about 19 kids in her graduating high school class. After living in a place where everything was connected to the farming community, Durant escaped to the city. “I didn’t enjoy it at the time. My family laughed that I was the least likely out of anybody to end up doing something in farming because I had no interest in it,” she said.

Now, with land, flowers, goats, chickens, and her small farm that adds color to Olalla, Durant couldn’t imagine how else life could have turned out. “I really do love it. I still work part-time as a nurse. But this really fills my cup; it brings me joy,” she said.

While living in Tacoma, Durant worked as a nurse for 20 years at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital. Now, she works part-time for MultiCare in Gig Harbor, while tending to her new venture on her property.

“This spring, we are going into year four, and I am figuring out what brings joy to me,” said Durant. “I’m reminded that real change often starts with a simple desire for something more. We didn’t have it all figured out, but we were willing to step outside what felt comfortable.”