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By MARG JACKSON town or city. “It’s the way of the world and I’ve been trying to adapt to that,” Bonson said of taking online orders and creating her delivery route based on those orders. The acreage where Bonson grows everything from grapes to long beans is off Orange Blossom Road between Oakdale and Knights Ferry. She doesn’t use pesticides, so those ordering her produce can be assured it is natural. Grapes grow on a trellis that creates an archway just outside her home leading to the large, expansive garden beyond. ness, Bonson was a fixture at local “We have the green Thompson grapes, the farmers’ markets and also would Merlot, red seedless,” she explained of the locally periodically load up her specially grown varieties. “They’re beautiful.” designed van and head out on the Sunflowers rise above the garden, planted road, stopping at several locations, specifically for the bees in the nearby bee boxes essentially a mobile fruit and vegto help produce the honey. etable market. But as she became “We love our bees,” Bonson said. “I also love more well-known and started to grow herbs so I can put them in my flower expanding her offerings, it just made more sense to transition to an arrangements.” The garden itself offers up plenty of produce online presence, where people can create their own orders and she can to choose from, everything from tomatoes to cucumbers, Armenian cucumbers, peppers, make deliveries to specific homes, eggplant, watermelon, tomatillos, cantaloupe, as opposed to multiple stops in a carrots and more. Many of her clients are those she cultivated There are still plenty of fresh fruits and a relationship with durvegetables to order ing her farmers’ market in custom-made days, Bonson explained. boxes, which are “Now they order a then delivered to your door by box online, I get a notice business owner and we coordinate what Monet Bonson. time would work for delivery,” she said. “Also if they want anything really specific, I can customize it.” Bonson and her Covering just a few acres on property off Orange Blossom Road outside Oakdale, the garden overseen by Monet Bonson keeps her ‘Blooming Success’ firm in business.
PHOTOS BY MARG JACKSON/ 209 Magazine
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hat do you do when you have some acreage, a green thumb and an idea? You put all those pieces together and turn it into a successful business franchise. At least that’s what Monet Bonson has done; she has created ‘Blooming Success’ – a business that thrives in the agriculture-rich Central Valley. With a motto of ‘Hanging by the seed of my plants’, Bonson has steadily built up her clientele and now has customers throughout the region. They go on her website, thebloomingsuccess.com, where they can create a produce box, order fresh flowers, honey, even ginger shots and have the goods delivered to their door. Delivery is available to several locations in the 209 and Bonson also features other products such as handmade soaps, peanuts, olive oil, syrups and more. When she first started the busi-
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