who we are
Flourish Farmstead
Flourish Herb Farm - Flourish Folk School -
Eric & Crystal Stevens have an intrinsic passion for growing food and medicinal herbs, growing native plants, cooking healthy meals, planting trees, foraging for wild food and medicine, creating art, spending time with their children in the fields and forests, and offering workshops through the Flourish Folk School.
The husband and wife team managed La Vista CSA Farm on the beautiful bluffs of the Mighty Mississippi for 7 years.
They spent 2 years as Farm and Garden managers at EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, Mo.
They now farm with their children in Godfrey, IL.
Eric is the Farm Manager at Rustic Roots Sanctuary in Spanish Lake, MO
While Eric is busy cultivating the fields, Crystal documents the process through photojournalism and field journaling. They teach their children the beauty of the seed to table process and point out how each step becomes a composition, each moment a still life.
Together, they sow the seeds, transplant crops into the ground, cultivate the rows, and harvest the bounty.
They believe that growing food is an artistic expression. They strategically plant certain colors of crops in blocks so that by mid-spring, their fields resemble patchwork quilts. When they are farming, the plants are their medium and the field is their canvas.
Throughout the growing season, their surroundings supply them with a vast ongoing array of subject matter. From twisted carrots to dew droplets on the leaves, farm life provides endless inspiration.
Their art collaborations illustrate the inspiration sourced from the cycles and rhythms of the natural world, the seasons of the farm, and the quintessential beauty of nature. Their collaborations have been featured at The Richmond Heights Art Walk, The Art of Food at the Webster House Galleries, The Rock N Roll Craft Show, Metro Bus Arts in Transit Program, St. Louis Earth Day, Tower Grove Farmers Market, and the cover of The Healthy Planet for April 2013 November 2013 and April 2014.
Their murals can be found at The Old Bakery Beer Company, Bakers & Hale, and the Graffiti Wall in STL.
They co-illustrated a Children’s book by Kelley Johnson-Powers titled Semore the Bird Tells All that he Heard
Crystal is the author of Your Edible Yard, Grow Create Inspire, and Worms at Work. She is an herbalist, an educator, and a freelance writer. She has contributed to FEAST Magazine, The Healthy Planet Magazine, Mother Earth News, GRIT, Permaculture Magazine, and elephant journal.
Eric is a farmer, a wood block artist, a muralist, and a graphic designer. He is an educator, a naturalist, and an environmental steward. In his free time, you will find him planting trees and foraging wild edibles.
Cay is an artist and a climber. He loves vegetables and tending to his personal garden.
Iris is a budding herbalist and aspiring chef and farmer, and a wonderful helper at the farm.