A conversation with Loretta Ball from the Never Ending Flower Farm.

Weaverville Business Association: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.
Loretta Ball: Myself and my husband, Kurt, are both Weaverville natives and we live on family land in Barnardsville. We have 2 sons, Quinn 15 and Ledger 12. Along with raising our boys we have chickens, donkeys and a few steers and of course a flower farm.

I’ve been growing flowers, well it seems like forever, but I guess the official start time of actually being a business was in 2009. Our flower farm has been our main focus for the past 5 years along with being a Wedding Floral Designer and starting in January 2023 we are expanding our floral services to becoming a Full Service Florist. Our floral studio is at our farm in Barnardsville and we do not plan on having a retail store front. Our you-pick flowers has been growing each year (both with flowers & customers). We also have a covered pavilion on the farm that is available to rent for private parties and small weddings/elopements. We are also excited to start our own Supper Club during our growing season and look forward to making new friends and eating delicious food from local Chefs.

WBA: What motivated you to open your business in Weaverville?
LB: Kurt and I inherited land in Barnardsville when we married in 2001. Growing up, I lived in the Flat Creek area and Kurt lived just down the road, off Barnardsville Hwy. So we didn’t move far and have loved living in the Big Ivy community.

WBA: Do you have any big plans or new programming coming up in 2022?
LB: Yes, expanding our floral services from Wedding & Event design to a full service Florist starting in January. This is something I wanted to do for a few years now but I just couldn’t get all my ducks in a row. Well, I still don’t have my ducks in a row, whoever does? But I was ready to move forward with this plan and make it happen! I can’t wait to serve our community in this way.

WBA: What’s your favorite thing about doing business in Weaverville?
LB: Weaverville is a Hallmark town – seriously, have you seen how friendly the town is? Of course you have, that’s why you are here! I’m just blessed to have grown up here and continue to see how the town is growing.  Our community is filled with amazingly creative and talented entrepreneurs, small business owners, artists, farmers, chefs and bakers. And I am thrilled to be apart of all this!

WE SUPPORT INDEPENDENT EYEWEAR

The fact that eyeglasses say so much about one’s personality, including the fact that people wear them all day and rely on them to see clearly makes comfort and function equally important characteristics of the entire eyeglass experience. It can also make choosing the right pair of eyeglasses seem overwhelming and impossible.  A thoughtful and trained optician will greatly simplify the many daunting choices of different styles of eyeglasses and even make the process fun. 

A great optician listens to their client while styling and giving honest feedback. Shopping for eyeglasses is not a situation where you want a “sales person” that just says ‘yes’ to make the sale. It is the optician’s job to guide you into a pair that fits comfortably with the correct size and shape of frame to maximize your vision.  No two faces are the same, and each individual has different optical needs and aesthetic preferences. With all of this in mind a properly fitted frame can greatly reduce lens weight and thickness, which in turn can save you money and increase comfort.


Our conscience can also create some distress when trying to make such an investment in eyeglasses. As discerning consumers we also want to know that our choices have a positive and sustainable impact on our community. Independent eyewear is the alternative to the large conglomerates that currently overwhelm the optical world. Monopolies disguised as hundreds of individual brands have sacrificed eyewear quality. These eyeglasses are mass produced “designer brands,” thus they are materially wasteful and have unfair profit margins. They remove the integrity from the design and sell empty logos when what we really want is craftsmanship and a collection that has passion behind it.

Optix is a curated space for eyeglasses designed to provide the client with diverse design options and quality hand-crafted independent eyewear. The independent collections we support allow our optician to provide you with lasting glasses you can be proud to wear. It is crucial that your optician is concerned with the big picture so you can feel confident about the value of what you purchase.

 

By Summer Cooley

Optician at Optix Eye Care

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