The Return of Flowers and (for Me) Joy!
A big tulip harvest
Often, it seems, I begin my updates with the phrase, “it’s been a busy month on the farm.” I guess I still haven’t adjusted to that baseline when growing flowers, at least from March to November. This month, though, it feels particularly true. In the past 4 weeks, I have planted over 450 perennials and woodies, and over 2,500 spring seedlings! That’s a lot of holes to dig. And while it feels like spring now, many of those planting days were cold and windy. Add to that the periodic frosts, which required covering the newly planted seedlings, there was a lot of struggling with frost cloth, anxiously checking the health of plants, and, if I’m being honest, a few tears at the hubris of tackling this growing part on my own. Now that the tulips are blooming and the days are longer I can look around and feel excitement about the many, many flowers that are coming.
As excited as I am about the flowers, I’m also thrilled with how good my soil looks this year. I’ve spent a lot of hours researching and experimenting with ways to bring good microbes to my fields in order to grow the healthiest plants so they can resist pests and diseases without chemical sprays. This year when I was planting, I was joined by the largest army of earthworms I’ve ever seen, and an increased decomposition of leftover plant material from last season, an indicator of a healthy soil.
Tulips are almost finished, and I’m still about 2 weeks away from enough spring flowers to make bouquets, but I’m really excited about the variety I will be able to offer this year.
Many of you follow me on Instagram, but for those who don’t, below is a recent post I wrote, which I think best sums up my excitement about the upcoming season:
This winter during one of the many “wind events,” a big gust snapped our sign post and toppled my sign into the nearby creek. At the time, it felt a bit like a metaphor for the winter I had been having. All the steady ground I count on was swept away by one bad headline after another. The flower farming wasn’t easy either as I tried to nurse my fall-planted flowers through the coldest winter I had experienced as a flower farmer.
I spent a lot of time reminding myself that there is some value to doing something good locally, to cultivating healthy soil, growing flowers with no chemicals, and choosing plants with a heavy emphasis on natives and other flowers that provide sustenance to birds and bugs. At times that feels like spitting into an ocean of injustice. Ultimately, I decided I have to focus on what I do well and what brings me joy, and that is cultivating this land and providing beautiful flowers to the community.
The sign sat in the garage for a while, but as spring began to creep in, David set to work building a new sign post, and sinking it deep into the ground. This weekend it returned to its spot of honor at the end of the driveway, welcoming my subscribers who came to pick up their bouquets on Thursdays, and reminding me of the things I love. As I delivered tulip bunches this week, I was powerfully and joyfully struck by how much I love connecting with people over flowers.
It’s not lost on me that I couldn’t do this without people who value local flowers, and are willing to pass by the cheaper imported flowers, created with underpaid labor and many chemicals. I’m so grateful for anyone who supports local flowers.
I increased my production this year to hopefully provide more sustainable, local flowers to more people, and I’m very hopeful to share with many of you this spring.
Photo courtesy of Breona Bautista
