People Behind the Blooms
Katie Specht
Farmer/Florist
Inspired by the beauty of flowers and all they can do to bring joy to the world, Katie believes there isn’t a better feeling in life than handing someone a bouquet and seeing their reaction. Her favorite part of the floral journey is farming. She is an avid experimentalist always trying new farming methods or growing new unique blooms. What it all boils down to is that she is her happiest when she makes others happy by sharing her flowers. Katie lives on the farmette with two children, two donkeys, four cats and a remarkably patient husband.
Jenny Tamayo
Farmer/Florist
After several attempts at a less-than-stellar veggie garden, Jenny’s biologist-husband bought her a bag of dahlia tubers. Together they dug a trench and laid those trippy tubers into the ground. To her surprise and delight, three months later a perfect dahlia bloom appeared. She was hooked.
1n 2019 Jenny’s father had a debilitating stroke and became wheelchair bound. An avid gardener himself, she could not bear to see his garden go unattended, so she filled it with flowers. During the years of caring for her father and up to his passing, her farm and flowers helped support, guide, and brighten lives. The blooms brought beauty, joy, and well-being to visitors, caretakers, and family members alike.
In 2023 Jenny founded Daughter’s Dahlias & Blooms, in honor of her father, Carlos, and the remarkable capacity flowers have to heal. Jenny has a deep appreciation for all flowers, but dahlias have become her specialty and area of focus. She is honored to partner with Moonlight Blooms to supply our farm with dahlias for our bouquet subscriptions, weddings, and floral experiences. Every dahlia is thoughtfully grown, utilizing organic farming practices on Jenny’s family’s property in Sonoma County, CA.
Judi Toogood
Collaborating Floral Designer
Enchanted by her grandmother’s gardens as a child, Judi cherishes her grandmother’s memory each time she sees tiny purple violets or tiger lilies swaying with the breeze. To Judi, lavender lilacs will always represent her mother.
Her favorite memories of people and events include flowers. As a young girl, Judi took note of how evocative receiving a bouquet of flowers can be. Love, Joy or Grief, flowers speak when we cannot find words to express ourselves.
As a high school student, Judi was presented with two choices for work experience: a bank position or work in a local flower shop. It took five seconds to make her choice. Judi has had the pleasure of being in the floral industry, working her way from shop assistant to lead designer in Michigan, to owning a small shop in Ventura, California and today, collaborating with Moonlight Blooms Farm.
Judi’s greatest pleasure continues to be floral design. Since moving to Northern California, she has worked as a studio-based florist and freelance designer for local floral companies. To remain current with floral design trends, Judi enhances her skills through workshops and classes.
Judi is delighted to be a member of the Moonlight Blooms family where the combination of design aesthetics and use of farm fresh flowers always creates something extraordinary.
Flower Friday Crew
People with Big Hearts
Flower Fridays are when a group of friends get together to make arrangements from the current harvest. We drink sparkling wine, eat goodies and design away! Flower Fridays bring joy two ways, the obvious fun of the experience and the great feeling that comes with gifting bouquets to someone who needs a pick-me-up. Most of our arrangements go to hospice or assisted living facilities.