In the heart of South Durham, about a 15-minute drive from UNC’s campus, Anya and Jason McBrayer’s farm sits nestled in the woods. Daffodils line the driveway, welcoming customers as they head toward Anya’s self-service flower shed, One Fun Gal Flowers.
Though the shed itself has only been operating for about a year, Anya has never been a stranger to the floral world. She first began to take bouquet orders after noticing the lack of local flowers in South Durham.
“I grew up gardening,” Anya said. “I’m from Florida originally and my parents were huge gardeners, so we primarily grew up just growing our own food. But then I have always, as a person, loved flowers, so when I got into adulthood, I just started learning more and more about growing them.”
Anya doesn’t leave any flowers out of her mix, but some of her favorites – tulips, ranunculus, peonies and anemones — are all available at One Fun Gal. They often spend entire seasons being prepped so they are as long-lasting as possible when they bloom.
Gardening has always been very therapeutic for Anya, but even more so since unexpectedly losing her dad last year. Both of her parents taught her a lot of what she knows about gardening.
“This has been very important in my own healing process,” she said. “And when I'm out here harvesting things or planting things, I tend to just feel connected to my parents.”
Despite how much is visibly dedicated to the farm, the McBrayers don’t spend most of their time out there. Balancing their full-time jobs as healthcare workers with their passion project, along with parenting two children and quite a few animals, is very hard, Anya said.
But flowers are not the only thing the McBrayers grow and harvest. Jason McBrayer, Anya’s husband, runs One Fungi Mushroom Farm, his medicinal mushroom business. He sells products like gummies and coffee, made from mushrooms including lion’s mane, reishi, maitake and cordyceps. Most of his products are sold online, but many are available in the self-service shed as well.
McBrayer said he became interested in the benefits of mushrooms while on a personal sobriety journey a few years back. McBrayer started going on walks to clear his mind, and he began noticing mushrooms.
