The Tenderest Thing I’ve Ever Grown Wasn’t Flowers—It Was This Story. My Book - The Bloom That Built Me - Launches Tomorrow.

Tomorrow, after years of kneeling in the dirt with trembling yeses, whispered prayers, and more lessons than I ever expected to learn from a patch of stubborn soil—I finally get to share something that has been growing quietly beneath the surface.

My book, The Bloom That Built Me, officially launches tomorrow.

It still feels surreal to even type that.

This book was never supposed to be perfect—because neither was I. It was supposed to be faithful, just like the crooked first rows that held my earliest beginnings, the rows that taught me I didn’t need certainty to start… only courage enough to kneel in tired soil and believe that what I planted in faith would rise in its own time.

And now—here it is. A story grown from mud, miracles, storms, surrender, and a whole lot of love.

Why I Wrote The Bloom That Built Me

If you’ve ever started something with only a fragile handful of hope…If you’ve ever whispered, “Lord, make something beautiful here—even if it’s just me”… If you’ve ever stood in the messy middle of a dream, drenched by life’s storms, wondering if anything good is still growing beneath the surface—

This book is for you.

I wrote it in the quiet spaces between school lessons and harvest days. I wrote it with muddy hands after long hours in the field. I wrote it with tears streaming as I relived the season that stretched me—and the season that saved me.

I wrote it for the woman who wonders if the beginning is too small. For the dreamer who feels behind. For the believer who needs to be reminded that God doesn't just meet us in the bloom—He meets us in the breaking, too.

This book is as real and raw as the soil beneath my nails.

A Story Built in the Storms

Some of the most sacred parts of this book were born in the storm—the day when everything I had planned washed away. Not the purpose. Just the perfection. That day I realized something both devastating and freeing:

I could plant. I could plan. I could pour my heart into the dream. But I could never control the bloom. 

Those storms didn’t destroy the dream. They built the believer.

And if you’ve ever been there—soaked, disappointed, watching your expectations dissolve

—you’ll find pieces of yourself on these pages.

A Book Rooted in Family, Faith, and the Lessons Only Flowers Teach

This book holds the season that became a mirror for me. The season that reminded me strength isn’t built only in full-bloom moments—it’s grown in the quiet, unseen corners of our lives. It’s grown when we choose to stay, to trust, to try again.

Every chapter is a seed—of courage, of surrender, of barefoot faith, of resilience that only grows in muddy places.

A Heartfelt Thank You

To every person who has stood beside this dream…to my family, whose love has held every shaky beginning steady…to my community who showed up for the crooked rows, the storms, the miracles, and every bloom in between—

Thank you. Your fingerprints are pressed into the pages of this book.

BFCM Launch Special: My Gift to You

For this launch weekend only, as part of my Black Friday / Cyber Monday deal, when you purchase a 2026 Wendland Family Farm Flower Subscription, you’ll receive a FREE digital download of The Bloom That Built Me.

My hope is that the flowers you bring into your home next season will feel even more special when you know the story behind them—the faith, the surrender, the storms, the miracles.

And maybe, as you read, you’ll discover a bit of your own story blooming there too.

Tomorrow It Begins

Tomorrow the book goes out into the world. Tomorrow I place this tender thing—grown slowly, faithfully, imperfectly—into your hands.

I hope it meets you wherever you are. In the beginning. In the middle. In the storm. In the quiet. In the bloom.

From my heart, my field, and my story to yours—thank you for being here, for cheering, for believing, and for blooming alongside me.

Here’s to every seed of yes that changes everything.

— Erica Wendland

Wendland Family Farm