About Emily:
Emily Malloy’s floral design career began as an apprentice who swept petals and leaves off the floors of a rapidly growing floral shop in Philadelphia. She rose to manager and floral designer. Her work has appeared in Elle Décor, Green Wedding Shoes, National Catholic Register, and the Ember Journal. She is the food and floral design editor at TheologyofHome.com. She and her husband live in Mississippi with their four children.
Words from the episode:
"The exciting part about the book was that it wasn't something I had originally planned to do. On Christmas morning, I was messaged with an idea. We had been brainstorming the concept for the fourth book for a while, and she said, "It's so obvious, the fourth book should be about flowers, and you should write it." Instantly, we sprang into action. She suggested that the book should chronicle a year, and that's when I hit the ground running.
I spent the rest of Christmas day with a pen and paper, jotting down ideas. One thing that became clear was the need for authenticity. I was asking myself questions about what kind of book this should be. If you've ever read other floral or gardening books, they tend to follow a certain format. However, considering the context of the whole "Theology of Home" series, it had to be philosophical at its core. Making it both philosophical and practical was a delightful challenge.
I realized that to achieve this authenticity, I needed to grow everything. So, in about ten to eleven months, we put the book together, and I cultivated everything myself. We also recognized that since it was going to be a real-time project, I had to be involved in the entire process, from growing the flowers to cutting and arranging them. This meant I had to take the photographs as well. It was quite an undertaking, but in the end, it was fascinating to witness the seasons and life in the garden as they unfolded in real time, and to capture the messages the Lord conveyed, which you can now find on the pages of the book."
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