Both John and Mary grew up on Amish farms, but neither ever really took an interest in farming. Although John did farm until he was 21, he found that he liked to work with his hands and worked at carpentry for 14 years. Mary worked in a market for a friend, helping to make and sell flower arrangements. When the friend sold her business, Mary started to take her flower items to craft shows mostly in Maryland and New Jersey about four times a year. Working the shows gradually led into a business from their home, and in June of 1990 the couple built the shop and complemented Mary’s flower arrangements with other craft items, ironwork, painted furniture and Yankee Candles. The crafts come from contacts Mary made when attending trade shows and are primarily handmade items, while the furniture and wrought iron come from local crafters.

Obviously a demand existed for what the Stoltzfus’s had to offer because by November of the same year John stopped his carpentry work and began helping at Country Road Flowers full time. In 1995 an addition was built out the back of the shop and it still doesn’t seem to be big enough!

People sometimes ask what John does to keep him busy all day long, and the answer is LOTS! He loves to be busy and take care of the customers. John is very much a "people-person" and tries to remember names and faces of visitors to Country Road Flowers. It seems that everyone loves Yankee Candles and with six different products in 60 different scents, John also spends a majority of each Monday doing inventory and reordering the favorites. Mary added that sometimes John will just take everything down off the walls and rearrange the flowers and crafts, and John admitted that decorating the shop is one of his favorite activities. He also assured me that working with dried flowers is a dirty business and sweeping up twice a day is not nearly enough! (Every time I’ve been in the shop it has been spotless!)

Mary primarily focuses on creating the wreaths, swags and other flower arrangements that give the shop its name. There are certain wreaths that she might form over and over again, or sometimes she has an idea in her mind (even before she starts) of what she wants the piece to look like. Mary laughed as she admitted that sometimes a piece just does not turn out that way at all! John interjected that they always look good in the end, maybe different from what Mary had planned, but still beautiful.

If she’s in the right mood, Mary likes "to piddle around" and see what she comes up with. Just by adding this flower here and that flower there, the outcome of Mary’s "piddling" is gorgeous. Mary’s response to compliments on her skill is quite frank. "Everyone says I have a talent, but it is a God-given talent. I don’t want any praise, that’s just the way it is."

Customers also help with her designs. Country Road Flowers gets a great deal of custom orders. People bring their own containers or vases and may request specific flowers or colors. These orders keep the shop in a flurry of activity and some days that seems like all Mary does! It is on days like these that Mary is very grateful for the two girls who come to help with the flower design and the four other ladies who make pieces at home to bring to the shop. Mary likes to stay on top of these special orders and can often complete a request in several days, but it may take two weeks, especially around the holidays. Between October and Christmas the Stoltzfus’s rarely have a rest!

Country Road Flowers has many local customers (and others from New Jersey and Maryland) that regularly come back again and again. People will bring friends and tell them, "If you don’t see what you like, tell Mary what you want and she’ll make it!" And, while mothers shop and talk with Mary about what flowers and colors they want, their kids make a beeline to Honor, the Stoltzfus’s horse. And John tells me that Honor now has lots of friends!

I think it’s the special attention one receives when walking into Country Road Flowers that makes it such an enjoyable visit. Both John and Mary agree that you must enjoy what you do, and after spending part of a morning with this couple, I know they enjoy their business and would not want to trade it for anything else! They’ve found their niche—an occupation that keeps them busy, happy, and puts their God-given talents to good use!

 Amish Country News Cover Article by Carla Wolfe (1999)

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