Saturday, August 25, 2012

That time in the season...

I can hardly believe it, but, here we are, again.  It's that time in the season when we start dreaming of next year.  The drought has made growing flowers a bit tricky, but I am so, so thankful that Travis insisted on spending a 100 degree day getting irrigation setup in our field.  I felt horrible knowing that he was working so hard out in the heat.  He kept saying that he had to get it done and that it just couldn't wait.  He was right...from that point on, any minimal rain that we had been getting stopped.  Our flowers would have been very, very sad had it not been for Travis coming to their rescue!  It was amazing to watch the dahlias!  They went from being pale with dried up flower buds to bright green beauties full of nice, plump buds!



 I'm diving into planning for next season -- what to grow, how & where to grow it and how to sell it.  We've been very fortunate this season (not only to be blessed with our amazing baby girl!) to have had many business opportunities come our way.  Wedding dates for 2013 are filling up very fast and we continue to receive many wedding inquiries.  I love this part of what we do!  Also, we've had many florists and floral designers interested in purchasing our flowers.  We'll be working hard to meet their needs next season.  One more exciting opportunity, Bark & Bloom has contacted us about selling flowers in their shop at The NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  They will be opening in late October of this year.  Our supply to them may be a bit limited starting out, but early next spring should be wonderful!



Our high tunnel was delivered this past week!  I'm so crazy excited to get it built so that we can begin growing in it!  I desperately want to grow ranunculus & anemone, but am unsure about how they'll do without heat.  I'm exploring this with some members of  The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers...hopefully they'll have good news!  We may need to just do a small trial batch this year to see how it goes.  Wish us luck!  


What else?  What else?  There's so much going on & so much work to do...as always.  Weeding, planting (lots of perennials to still go in the ground), transplanting, tilling, watering, ordering for 2013, building the small & large high tunnels...the list goes on & on!  If you're ever bored.....  ;)

One more thing!  We have a new stall at The Freight House Farmers' Market!  We are located in the large lot in the row closest to the railroad tracks -- right next to Iechen's Tomatoes & Beacon Woods Farm.  So far, this spot has been great for us!  We receive a lot more foot traffic and have made many new friends!  Today, some of our sweet customers brought us each a John Deere hat & their little girl, Laura, made the cutest card for our little Celia!  So sweet!


I have to show you the cutest video of Celia that I can't stop watching...I love her and her adorable little laugh!  It's a little long...I love the whole thing, but maybe that's just because she's ours.  You can find the video here: Celia's Video.  Enjoy!!  :)