BREMERTON — Leaving the house sometimes wears me out. Getting out of bed, getting dressed, doing a minimal amount of cosmetic maintenance seems like training for a triathlon. Commuting to work, being at work, commuting home… That is the actual triathlon.
It feels like it’s a race to the finish every single day. Trying to break out of my introverted comfort zone has always been a huge undertaking for me. A kindergarten birthday party felt no different all those decades ago than walking on a Washington State Ferry and sitting with a bunch of suits for 45 minutes makes me feel now.
Thinking of my Saturday (and Sundays) as cheat days is what actually gets me out of the house most weekends. Otherwise I would honestly stay in bed bouncing the television channels back and forth from Mean Girls to SVU, surviving on Dr. Pepper, cold pizza and ice cream. Having to commute to Seattle to work at my Corporate Hell Job makes me try my best to support as many local businesses as possible here in Kitsap County.
Like today.
I start with my morning coffee at the coffee stand down the hill from my apartment, it’s a cheat day so I get some sort of danish at the local, mildly overpriced bakery, then take a moment to enjoy the free view of the bridge and the Puget Sound. My favorite part of the day though, is going to the nursery across town. It is a locally-owned, family-owned business where I can be surrounded by plants and flowers. Local, independent, family owned, community based business is almost a thing of the past. These evil big box stores and evil internet companies have wiped out a majority of what catalyzes a local neighborhood community…
Small businesses!
If everything is rolling how I want it to this morning, I will have enjoyed my coffee, and mildly over priced danish, soaked in the view, driven across town to sit in Wendy’s parking lot and wait for Bremerton Nursery to open. I will watch the chain link gate slide open to a relaxing array of plants, flowers, trees, herbs, and whatever else you can think of. I’m sure they will have some funny little riddle on the marquee-type sign that will usually make me chuckle.
Like clockwork every time, I show up before they open and there’s one person that I would presume is one of the family’s children leaf-blowing the parking lot in the mornings, preparing for the endless stream of people throughout the day. It would seem this person may run a lot of the landscaping side of the business too. On more than one occasion, I’ve noticed them leave in the Dreaney’s Landscaping van soon after leaf blowing duties are done.
They always smile and wave, letting me know they are aware of my presence. We’ve never talked, but we always smile and wave. It is genuine. It is cool. Riley is another of the people that really stands out around the nursery. Over a quick, small talk interaction one summer, I got the idea that Riley went to college in Boston then came back to Kitsap County to kind of help run their parents’ business. Riley is a go-getter. Riley is always doing stuff. They’re bouncing all over the 1 acre lot, keeping this machine on course. I’ve watched their father act the same way around here in years past. It’s cool to see Riley more or less take over their father’s role, in their own way, over time. It’s also really cool to see where they are taking this nursery as they go into the future.
In another quick, small talk interaction I had with Riley one day, they mentioned that their father started working at the nursery in the late 1970’s at 16 years old for the then-prior owners, the Burger family. I can remember it being called Burger’s Nursery following my grandmother around the property as a child. Several years maybe even decades later, after graduating college, getting married, having a family, and starting his own landscaping business, Riley’s father John purchased, and took over the nursery after said prior owner had passed away.
Thus keeping the locally owned nursery local, and definitely keeping it family owned.
After some time the Dreaney family changed the name from Burger’s to Bremerton Nursery. I can’t remember if it was Burger’s or Bremerton Nursery that had their own coffee stand on-site, but it was awesome. I miss that. I wish it was still there.
(Hint, hint.)
They also offer an impressive variety of free workshops throughout the year. They have classes on things like Mason bees, organic soil building, and a bunch more. Every year I tell myself I’m going to take the wreath making workshop over the holidays, but every year I chicken out. I guess I’m just not much of a people person… especially over the holidays. They sell almost exclusively organic products focusing on an assortment of edible plants, and, most important to me personally… They do not use chemicals around their nursery.
Please remember this is not an advertisement or a review. This is just a coffee ramble by a socially awkward introvert sitting in Wendy’s parking lot waiting for the nursery to open. If you want more information I would suggest following Bremerton Nursery on social media, or even better go there and see what all they have going on. You will not regret it! Who knows, just like me, you might dream of quitting your big city cooperate job and applying for a job at your local, family owned nursery. Hell, maybe they would even hire you, and you could reopen the old coffee stand. That would be awesome!Whatever you do remember life is short, so take time to stop, and smell the roses. // SARA DAVID
CHECK OUT YOUR LOCAL plant nursery this spring and find more about Bremerton City Nursery at bremertoncitynursery.com
