Kjessie Essue harvests from the small Plumas County flower farm she was inspired to plant after the 2021 Dixie Fire. Photo: © 2025 Frank RebeloStory by Linda DuBois
Photos by Frank Rebelo
In August 2021, the Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres in five counties and destroyed historic buildings from the Gold Rush as it incinerated most of downtown Greenville in Plumas County. About half the residents in the Indian Valley area of Plumas County lost their homes.
Kjessie and Andre Essue and their three young children of Taylorsville were among the fortunate ones. While they were evacuated four times and had to stay more than 40 days away from home, their house and garden were still there when they returned.
When Kjessie Essue witnessed the devastating aftermath of the inferno, she wanted to do something for the suffering community. She decided to draw on her agricultural knowledge and experience, including a master’s degree in crop and soil science and working in study-abroad programs on a banana plantation in New Zealand and a pineapple farm in Costa Rica, and start a farm. And she would grow something that could bring joy and comfort to her neighbors who had lost everything: flowers.
At first, she was a little apprehensive about how people would respond to her spending time and effort on something other than essentials for disaster relief like food, water or shelter. “I wondered if people were going to think, ‘This lady’s crazy.’”
Plus, plenty of people told her she couldn’t grow a flower farm in the mountains.
But believing in her mission to bring cheer and economic recovery assistance, in December 2021, she launched Barn Swallow Gardens—named for the birds that nest on the family’s 1914 farmhouse every spring.
Photos by Frank Rebelo
In August 2021, the Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres in five counties and destroyed historic buildings from the Gold Rush as it incinerated most of downtown Greenville in Plumas County. About half the residents in the Indian Valley area of Plumas County lost their homes.
Kjessie and Andre Essue and their three young children of Taylorsville were among the fortunate ones. While they were evacuated four times and had to stay more than 40 days away from home, their house and garden were still there when they returned.
When Kjessie Essue witnessed the devastating aftermath of the inferno, she wanted to do something for the suffering community. She decided to draw on her agricultural knowledge and experience, including a master’s degree in crop and soil science and working in study-abroad programs on a banana plantation in New Zealand and a pineapple farm in Costa Rica, and start a farm. And she would grow something that could bring joy and comfort to her neighbors who had lost everything: flowers.
At first, she was a little apprehensive about how people would respond to her spending time and effort on something other than essentials for disaster relief like food, water or shelter. “I wondered if people were going to think, ‘This lady’s crazy.’”
Plus, plenty of people told her she couldn’t grow a flower farm in the mountains.
But believing in her mission to bring cheer and economic recovery assistance, in December 2021, she launched Barn Swallow Gardens—named for the birds that nest on the family’s 1914 farmhouse every spring.
| The 2021 Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres, destroying the landscape, trees, homes and businesses. The burn scars are still prevalent in the area surrounding Kjessie Essue's flower farm in Taylorsville. Photo: © 2025 Frank RebeloThe 2021 Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres, destroying the landscape, trees, homes and businesses. The burn scars are still prevalent in the area surrounding Kjessie Essue's flower farm in Taylorsville. Photo: © 2025 Frank Rebelo Beauty from ashes As it turns out, the flowers did grow on her 1/3-acre plot, and “people really responded very positively.” Sponsors signed up for Essue to deliver bouquet subscriptions to those who had lost their homes. Those deliveries continued throughout the first spring and summer. Then, eventually, people started ordering flowers for themselves. From there, Essue’s business grew to include workshops, holiday wreaths, pop-up farm stands, wedding and special event design and wholesale customers. She writes a blog and a newsletter with tips for growing in a mountain climate, encouraging anecdotes and updates on the farm’s offerings. At last count, the farm grew about 130 varietals, partly because Essue is always trying something new. “I love to grow a lot of different shapes, textures and colors. It might not be what’s recommended from a business perspective, but it brings me a lot of joy,” she says. She has prided herself on growing seasonal blooms that her community can’t get elsewhere. “They’re not meant to be shipped, so they can’t find them in the stores,” she says. One of these is the ranunculus. “They’re very fussy to grow because they don’t like to be too hot or too cold. So, they take a lot of extra love,” she says. |   Kjessie Essue creates bouquets with the flowers she grows for residents of surrounding communities to bring them some beauty following the tragedy. Photo: © 2025 Frank Rebelo |
Year-round job
Essue attributes her high productivity in such a small space to the dry climate and low risk of fungal disease, which allow her to “pack a lot of stuff in.” She starts everything from seed, some directly planted in the ground but most she starts in soil blocks inside on shelves under LED lights. She plants her earliest frost-tolerant seedlings in late January and others through late May.
With assistance from remote weather sensors and frost cloth, she keeps them thriving.
Except for a little help from her husband and her uncle, Essue does the farm work herself. Her only power tool is a hedge trimmer she uses to cut down the plants at the end of the season.
Her biggest harvest season is summer, followed by spring, but she says there’s “not a huge offseason.”
Once the flowers die off in October, she plants thousands of bulbs, followed by fall bulb sales and bulb workshops through mid-November. Then there are dried-flower fall and winter wreath making and sales, followed by marketing for the spring bouquet subscriptions, creating a “crazy, massive” spreadsheet with the timeline for planting, ordering seeds and taking about a two-week rest—before it’s time to start planting for spring and summer.
Essue attributes her high productivity in such a small space to the dry climate and low risk of fungal disease, which allow her to “pack a lot of stuff in.” She starts everything from seed, some directly planted in the ground but most she starts in soil blocks inside on shelves under LED lights. She plants her earliest frost-tolerant seedlings in late January and others through late May.
With assistance from remote weather sensors and frost cloth, she keeps them thriving.
Except for a little help from her husband and her uncle, Essue does the farm work herself. Her only power tool is a hedge trimmer she uses to cut down the plants at the end of the season.
Her biggest harvest season is summer, followed by spring, but she says there’s “not a huge offseason.”
Once the flowers die off in October, she plants thousands of bulbs, followed by fall bulb sales and bulb workshops through mid-November. Then there are dried-flower fall and winter wreath making and sales, followed by marketing for the spring bouquet subscriptions, creating a “crazy, massive” spreadsheet with the timeline for planting, ordering seeds and taking about a two-week rest—before it’s time to start planting for spring and summer.
Kjessie and Andre Essue and their three children—twins Ruby and Leo, 7, and Hugo, 9—will soon start a new adventure. Photo: © 2025 Frank Rebelo
A bittersweet end? This spring will bring bouquet sales, tulips and dahlia tubers, among a few other things.
But, this year, there will be no summer harvest.
For more than three years, the flower farm has brought neighbors joy and beauty, but this chapter in the community and the Essue family is coming to an end. In late summer, the Essues will be heading to Georgia, near family, for a one-year sabbatical to start a new business that will address another passion of theirs.
Called Multicultural Family Hub, it will offer connection, coaching and workshops for multicultural families with children.
Bringing together cultures in a family hits close to home for the Essues, including son Hugo, 9, and twins Ruby and Leo, 7. Andre’s mother emigrated from Jamaica, and he grew up in a neighborhood of Atlanta of mostly first-generation immigrants.
“We felt inspired to apply the knowledge, skills and wisdom we’ve gained and share it with others,” Essue says.
Nothing about the family’s future is set in stone, Essue clarifies. The plan now is to stay in Georgia one year and then return to Taylorsville, but they’re open to staying there longer or even permanently and the farm is closing “in its current incarnation.”
Essue says she is excited for the family’s new venture that will “create beauty in a different way,” but acknowledges she has gone through a grieving period over the loss of the farm and the community that formed around it.
“It brought beauty and possibility” to not only her immediate community but the whole county, she says. “I made so many friends and met so many people who were interested in what I was growing and were inspired by it. That was really amazing.”
She says she also hopes she inspired other farmers who face the constant threat of wildfire. “I showed that you can start a farm after a fire. You can start over.”
Linda DuBois
A bittersweet end? This spring will bring bouquet sales, tulips and dahlia tubers, among a few other things.
But, this year, there will be no summer harvest.
For more than three years, the flower farm has brought neighbors joy and beauty, but this chapter in the community and the Essue family is coming to an end. In late summer, the Essues will be heading to Georgia, near family, for a one-year sabbatical to start a new business that will address another passion of theirs.
Called Multicultural Family Hub, it will offer connection, coaching and workshops for multicultural families with children.
Bringing together cultures in a family hits close to home for the Essues, including son Hugo, 9, and twins Ruby and Leo, 7. Andre’s mother emigrated from Jamaica, and he grew up in a neighborhood of Atlanta of mostly first-generation immigrants.
“We felt inspired to apply the knowledge, skills and wisdom we’ve gained and share it with others,” Essue says.
Nothing about the family’s future is set in stone, Essue clarifies. The plan now is to stay in Georgia one year and then return to Taylorsville, but they’re open to staying there longer or even permanently and the farm is closing “in its current incarnation.”
Essue says she is excited for the family’s new venture that will “create beauty in a different way,” but acknowledges she has gone through a grieving period over the loss of the farm and the community that formed around it.
“It brought beauty and possibility” to not only her immediate community but the whole county, she says. “I made so many friends and met so many people who were interested in what I was growing and were inspired by it. That was really amazing.”
She says she also hopes she inspired other farmers who face the constant threat of wildfire. “I showed that you can start a farm after a fire. You can start over.”
Linda DuBois
