Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: [00:00:00] Welcome to Holy Shenanigans Podcast, where we share stories of the sacred showing up in everyday life. Right now we're celebrating the church season of Easter, and my thoughts are centered on growth, healing and how creativity helps us connect with each other and aid these efforts of new life. So today I am so excited to have with us Kate from Bough and Bend, from Warren, Pennsylvania. So welcome to you, Kate, for being here with us at Holy Shenanigans Podcast.
Kate Fenstermacher: Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor.
Kate Fenstermacher: I am a creative person, an artist, a floral designer, and the owner of Bough and Bend Floral. I [00:01:00] grew up in this area. I grew up in Barnes, which is just a little bit outside of Warren. So I'm so lucky and grateful to be able to have this shop in the community that I grew up in.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I love your floral shop Bough and bend. And whenever I visit it, I am just drawn into it. It's such a place of. Calm and natural beauty. There's whimsy there, which I love personally. And there's opportunity to learn. You have wonderful books and resources and I also notice it as a third space where people, can gather and build relationships and enjoy life.
Kate Fenstermacher: Thank you so much for saying that. That means a lot. 'Cause that really was my vision and goal and so it means so much to hear you observe that. So
Kate Fenstermacher: thank you.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: What inspired you to create a floral shop that also is that third space.
Kate Fenstermacher: Since a young child, I loved being in nature. I grew up, surrounded by the Allegheny National [00:02:00] Forest and playing in nature and playing in my grandmother's garden, and across the street was my aunt's garden, and they just had these beautiful gardens and that really sparked the connection to nature and feeling like that was my avenue to feel like I was connected to something bigger than myself. And so that's just been a stem throughout my whole life of needing to have nature and natural things around me. I've always had a garden or planted some flowers wherever I've lived.
Kate Fenstermacher: When I went to school at Chatham University, I started in environmental science thinking. I wanted to go into the sciences, and then I just had this kind of epiphany halfway through that I wanted to develop The creative side that I had and I switched to art. So I graduated from art school there.
Kate Fenstermacher: And that really just opened my eyes to all the possibilities of how to be a [00:03:00] creative person. And when I graduated from school, I got a job at a floral shop in Pittsburgh. And that connected the dots for me, really, of just that my medium really could be floral design and it's connecting these two loves of creativity and art with nature
Kate Fenstermacher: I've always felt like a little bit on the outskirts. I've always been like kind of a weird person, which I find to be a compliment. And so I wanted create a space where people who felt different and attracted to the kind of. Unique things where they could gather and feel like they're welcome.
Kate Fenstermacher: when I moved home here and I met my husband he had just, bought our home and got our dog within the same month and then a month later met me. So there was a lot of big life things happening for him at once. But we do have a little bit of land and so when we started dating, we were just talking about. What our dreams were for the space. And I thought maybe this could be a flower [00:04:00] farm so I could be growing flowers and making art with them in that way. So I was selling them at the Warren Farmer's Market for three years. We did that that pull of just wanting to open a shop kept being there.
Kate Fenstermacher: And finally I was like, I think I'm gonna look into this.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: how long has Bough and Bend been open now?
Kate Fenstermacher: A year and a half.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Oh happy almost anniversary.
Kate Fenstermacher: Thank you. Yeah.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: So this has been a long process really to be where we are today.
Kate Fenstermacher: definitely, I was looking at some old journals of mine, even from like 2020 2021, and there'd be like a line start floral business question mark and so it's really been, a slow and long process, but finally is like here and it's really amazing,
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: when I was a young person living in downtown Warren I used to help a friend occasionally at her floral shop, and I loved working with the flowers and the people to help [00:05:00] create arrangements. To meet the circumstances of life, the joys and sorrows and everything in between. So why do you think being a florist is so important for the world?
Kate Fenstermacher: Part of it is what you just mentioned there. You get to be part of these incredibly important moments in our lives and. When we are able to see beauty in each of those moments, it reminds us just of how lucky I think we are to be here. And I think that's what Flowers do is they slow us down, 'cause they're temporary.
Kate Fenstermacher: And reminds us that we're temporary. And also it's a connection. Like when someone gives flowers to another person, there's something that happens to the person giving the flowers and then also the person receiving.
Kate Fenstermacher: There's just they're very special in that way. And they're unique in that way. I think.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: They're very [00:06:00] connective. Means of building relationship. Even in my own yard, I've been trying for years to cultivate some, wild colors that come up every year. And last year had a little bit of success at that. Finally,
Kate Fenstermacher: Yay.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: and a friend of mine had given me some flowers in this little beautiful base and I was like, ah.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I can go trim some flowers and drop them off to her shop where she is, a shop. And we've always had a really great friendship, but it's deepened our friendship in a way that you wouldn't expect from a little bouquet of, flowers from your yard.
Kate Fenstermacher: Yeah.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I'm curious to hear a little bit about your background as an artist and how that connects to floral but also other mediums.
Kate Fenstermacher: Sure. I had always been the kid that hung out in the art room, in high school and exploring different things that way. My mom is a trained musician and a music teacher, retired music teacher. So [00:07:00] arts were always like a really just very prevalent in my home growing up. Theater and arts.
Kate Fenstermacher: But in art school I was able to really explore, a lot of different things. My focus was printmaking and I loved the slowness of that medium and the sort of delayed gratification that comes. I did a lot of etchings. But now I'm exploring Fiber arts, i've been doing some embroidery and I have a goal this year to learn how to sew and crochet and things like that, so I'm really excited about that. And I would say design in my home space is a creative outlet for me. I love to go thrifting into state sales and things like that, and there's something creative there.
Kate Fenstermacher: I think that happens when you see something that sparks something in you that you then want to have in your surroundings. So yeah, those are some of the creative things that I do now outside of the Floral [00:08:00] design.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And so when you're creating, say you're creating a bouquet for somebody's birthday celebration,
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: What kind of creative tools do you pull from
Kate Fenstermacher: I always ask does the person whose birthday it is, do they have a favorite color? Do they have a favorite flower? So I'm trying to like imbue meaning into the arrangement as much as I can. seasons are really an inspiration for me.
Kate Fenstermacher: I love to work with the seasons. There's some local growers around this area that I try to work with and use the flowers that are growing right now. I love also the Victorian language of flowers where they had assigned meaning to different flowers to send messages to each other.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I'm just curious now so what is the meaning for like roses or is it specific to color?
Kate Fenstermacher: There is one like generalized meaning, but it can get very detailed and the colors can also mean different meanings. Even [00:09:00] like the type of rose, like spray roses might mean something different. But I think for roses in general have to do with love and adoration and things like that.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: That's cool. I had not realized that each flower could send an actual message like a letter. Great.
Kate Fenstermacher: And of course, people have their own lived experience, like associations and meetings with flowers too and sometimes that guides what I will or won't put in an arrangement as well,
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: awesome. So one day when I was in the shop, um. It is a folk painting from the 18 hundreds. And in this folk painting, it has this beautiful spray of flowers and all sorts of like bugs and insects and butterflies, all in this one ginormous arrangement. And when I was studying about this particular painting I learned that there is no way on earth that all of those flowers and all of those creatures could be in one place.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: At one time, [00:10:00] it's like this defiance of, the seasons. Which is part of why I liked it. But also how the artists who painted this, think about all of the time that they had to spend and expend on collecting those images to create this abundant.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Painting in the end. why is that picture so important to you?
Kate Fenstermacher: , I gravitated towards it because I love insects. I think they're so fascinating. And just beautiful. It was a reminder that there is, beauty and something not so beautiful to some people can all exist together and and nature is all of those things,
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: people talk about beauty and aesthetics being one particular thing.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And it is not. It is not one particular thing or one particular perspective, or one particular culture or ideology of beauty. And perhaps that's that space of whimsy and [00:11:00] weirdness in its beauty that you're trying to capture too in the space that you're curating.
Kate Fenstermacher: I think you're right. .
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I found this quote about creativity a long time ago, and it's actually like the byline in my personal email account. And it's from one of my favorite authors, Madeline L'Englle And she says this, it says, stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, and more loving. And with this quote, I think that we can take and plug in any kind of expressive art, stories or floral or whatever you wanna plug in there.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: But I wonder what story does your creative efforts tell,
Kate Fenstermacher: I love this question. I think there's a couple. Stories. I'll tell you the inspiration for my business name Bough and Bend comes from the Shaker song, simple Gifts. know that song?
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Is a gift To be [00:12:00] simple is a gift to be free. Yeah.
Kate Fenstermacher: Yes. And I love that song, and there's a line in there to Bough and to bend. I did a word play with Bough, B-O-U-G-H to add some nature in there, those lyrics to that song really to me mean that when we slow down and appreciate the simplicity of life, the simple moments I think are where the true gifts live and, I think that's the story that I'm trying to share with my community is that we are all connected and When we slow down and are present with each other, we can feel that connection more deeply. I think
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: that's a story. I think we all need to live into a lot more.
Kate Fenstermacher: yeah.
Kate Fenstermacher: I like also in those lyrics that to Bough and to bend, we shouldn't be ashamed. It's really, the constant that is change in our lives. And when we [00:13:00] can ebb and flow with those changes, We create this dance with life and even though it can be uncomfortable and challenging it's part of the journey.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Yeah, stay bendable. Flexible.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Grounded in what is important to you.
Kate Fenstermacher: exactly.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: So I understand holy shenanigans as the sacred showing up in everyday life. And I wonder if you have a story of a sacred moment that you'd like to share.
Kate Fenstermacher: When I was living in Pittsburgh and after I graduated and I was still grappling with what to do with my career as an artist, even though I was working in the flower shop, how do I fit this in?
Kate Fenstermacher: There is a shop in Pittsburgh. Called Roxanne's Dried Flowers. And I would go in there and walk in and just imagine and just be inspired. And it's a lovely shop. I think they've been there for about [00:14:00] 30 years now and think someday I wanna own a shop like this. It really inspired me.
Kate Fenstermacher: So a few months after I opened Bough and Bend there was. A mother and daughter in there and they were visiting from Pittsburgh and they were walking around and really enjoying the shop. And she came up to me and said, this place really reminds me of this shop in Pittsburgh called Roxanne's Dried Flowers.
Kate Fenstermacher: And it was just this amazing moment where I felt like, okay, this is the right path for me. Like I am, doing it, I'm making it. And. It was a little breadcrumb that I was on the right path, so it meant so much to me.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Isn't that wonderful? Yeah. When that thing that inspires you comes back around
Kate Fenstermacher: Yeah,
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: you did it. You're on the right path.
Kate Fenstermacher: exactly.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And I think that this is also something that is unique in your shop. Because there aren't a lot of shops that offer a selection of dried flowers.
Kate Fenstermacher: Yeah, there's [00:15:00] this uniqueness where you can preserve that moment when you receive flowers if you are able to or want to in that dried flowers. Last a little bit longer and just take on this unique form. There's a resurgence in love of dried flowers, which I love yeah.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: It's just such a. wonderful use of the flowers you have. And it's like an honoring to the different ways that flowers can be not just one manifestation or one part of their life. It's
Kate Fenstermacher: For sure.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: life. So I just think that's lovely.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: One of the creative practices that I have is using words to reflect on life.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: On other pieces of poetry or scripture as well. But I was thinking a lot about all of the things women in particular carry with them. I was actually reading a poem called Poem in Letitia's Kitchen Drawer that tells [00:16:00] this incredibly powerful. Difficult and beautiful story about this woman's life by just taking a look at what is in her kitchen drawer.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And so in response to that, I wrote this poem called She Holds the Universe. And I just wanna present it to you as I thank you for being here with us at the podcast. And also I'm curious to hear what you hear when I share. What I carry around in my purse and what that might mean to others.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: So here's the poem. She holds the universe. She carries a turmeric yellow purse with birds of some paradise and flowers. She's never seen. The cavernous center section attempts organization, housing, many little pouches, holding cards for business, a wide wallet for hardly used checks, and a pink notebook containing priceless [00:17:00] treasure.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Allegion of lipsticks live in the makeup bag, waiting for their moment to shine. Air paste is ready to fluff and freshen locks left limp by the rain or some other source of disdain. Drugstore mascara promises moderate multiplication of lashes, drawing eyes to see something more than bargain. Beauty, all present but unaccounted for just in case she runs out the door without making up her face. The serious inside pocket holds puffs, Excedrin peppermint, lip balm, and albuterol inhaler. Safe. Outside pouch reserves room for her phone that never checks out of her hand. Random receipts. Russell Amid parking meter feed and a pen or two just in case the muse meets her on her way before picking up that [00:18:00] golden purse of birds and flowers. He already carries a swirling universe within her purse or none. The Imago Dei. Walks away
Kate Fenstermacher: Thank you so much for sharing that with me. as women we're always, preparing, we're thoughtful, we're trying to. Live up to expectations that society puts on us that we put on ourselves and through that care for ourselves at the same time. And vulnerability comes up. You know what we allow people to see. Not everybody would feel comfortable like dumping out their purse and showing people what they have in it.
Kate Fenstermacher: It's a very intimate thing but also when we do that, we're gonna see [00:19:00] that probably every woman has similar things in their purse the complexity that we are. And I would also say the things that we hold in our purse shift and change as we grow throughout our lives because of what's happening and how at any moment if you take a snapshot of what you have in your purse is really very telling of what your life looks like in that.
Kate Fenstermacher: Moment too. I love the ending there of, you forget your purse, you are still, going to be okay. Like you are whole and you will survive.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Yeah. And that, term Imago day means made in the image of God,
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: That no matter what we carry with us that sacred, that divine is with us and within us.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: It's a personal practice to open up and be vulnerable [00:20:00] and share quite literally what I carry in that bag. But I think that is part of, being present and attending to those different parts of our lives, just like you do at the shop. If somebody comes in a time of grief or loss or celebration, it requires energy and a vulnerability that we don't always engage with in the world.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: And so that's why I wanted to share this one with you as a thank you for that work that you're doing and that care that you're offering to people every
Kate Fenstermacher: Thank you.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: You're welcome. Kate, is there anything else that you would like to share a lot of our friends that listen come from our region in uh, Warren County and Chautauqua County, but this podcast goes all over the world.
Kate Fenstermacher: Oh, I think,
Kate Fenstermacher: the last thing maybe I wanna share is just a reminder that we are nature and that we're not separate from it. And that when we remember [00:21:00] that it just connects everything and. Hopefully can remind us that we're not alone.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Yeah. And to keep Boughing and bending and remember those simple gifts of life. Yeah. Thank you so much. Where can people find Bough and bend
Kate Fenstermacher: so we're located at, 3, 3, 8 Pennsylvania Avenue West in Warren. Downtown Warren. We're directly next door to an awesome coffee shop. And then on the other side, a really great clothing boutique. So if you wanna come to downtown Warren and have a fun afternoon, there's lots to do and walk around.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Where's your website? Where can people find you online?
Kate Fenstermacher: It's. Bough and bend.com. You can reach out there order flowers on there as well.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: Thank you so much, Kate for sharing about your shop, but so much more for your reminder to remember that we are [00:22:00] part of nature and to engage in those simple. Gifts of life. I just so appreciate your presence in our community and I wish you all the best.
Kate Fenstermacher: Thank you. I really enjoyed. Talking to you and just reflecting on the questions that you have for me. So I really appreciate it and for you sharing that beautiful poem. And thank you for all you do in our community. I also appreciate you.
Pastor Tara Lamont Eastman: I am your holy shenanigans muse. Tara Lamont Eastman. Thank you for joining us for Holy Shenanigans. That surprise, encourage, redirect, and turn life upside down all in the name of love. This is an unpredictable spiritual adventure that is always sacred but never stuffy. Thank you, Kate for joining us and letting us know more about Bough and Bend and the beautiful work of flowers and [00:23:00] what they mean in your life. To support Holy Shenanigans Podcast, you can find us at www buy me a coffee.com/tara l Eastman. For all who are listening, I invite you to engage in those simple gifts of life. May you be well, may you be at peace, and may you know that you carry a universe inside of you too.
