The Plan.

It has been months since I've posted on here. Flowers, weddings & life have consumed my time.  Life. Is. Busy.

In case you haven't heard, Celia has a sibling on the way!!...which has made for an interesting start to the flower season.  Guess what nauseated me the most in the first trimester??  Flowers (sight & smell) and bouquet photos...especially bouquet photos! Can you believe it?! I had to change my Facebook cover photo because looking at the bouquet I had posted made me beyond queasy!

Being a flower farmer & designer with a 14 month old and one on the way is interesting.  Travis and I have had some serious talks about how to adjust Seeded Earth to fit our lives. Babies are only babies/children for so long. Before we know it, they'll be flying the coop and we'll look back wondering where the time went. We want to savor our time with our sweet, silly little ones.  After many flip floppy "decisions", we've finally come to one...

We are scaling back.  Flower farming is A TON of work.  To really do it well, I should be putting in *at least* 40 hours (& likely more) in the field each week -- this doesn't include design time.  Well, 40 hours doesn't happen.  My mom helps a lot & watches Celia when she can, but she's busy, too.  And...honestly, I don't want to spend less time with my little girl.  She brings so much joy to my days.

So, the plan is this:

1.) We will only be doing three weddings each month and only one per weekend.

2.) We are adjusting our crops.  Less labor intensive crops, more direct seeded annuals (these are much more self-sufficient requiring less planting and weeding labor), more bulbs & more perennials.

3.) Our large high tunnel still sits empty. We have been waiting to have good, fertile soil brought in. The river flooding four times this season has made our soil source inaccessible. We will get the high tunnel completed this fall so that it is available for next season. Any labor intensive crops that we grow will go into the high tunnel.  It is close enough to our home that I can work in there while our babies nap.

4.) We will likely no longer sell at the farmers' market.  We love seeing customers & friends every week, but the market is very time consuming.  Travis has his full-time job with Arthur J. Gallagher during the week, so weekend family time is very important to us.  BUT...when we do have an abundance of flowers, you may still be able to pick them up from the farmers' market. We are working on the details of this and will let you know as soon as it is all finalized.

I think that covers it.

We are so thankful for all of the support that you continue to show us as our family grows!

So close I can smell it!

My to-do list is increasing day by day.  I walk outside and I swear I smell hints of spring.  I'm not sure how that can be when it's still so cold and there are about 4 inches of snow on the ground, but somewhere, somehow, the scent of spring is there.  I have the itch to get outside, soak in the sun & work, work, work!  Plugs are ordered for the plants that are just too difficult & time consuming for us to grow from seed -- although, I promise to give a few of these another shot next season!  Seeds will all be here this week and there are just a few more bulbs, tubers & perennials to order.  The high tunnel is waiting to have good soil brought in and then be covered.  Hopefully we can get that project tackled within the next month so that we can get plants in!  SO EXCITED!

We're busier than we've ever been with weddings!  It's a great feeling, but golly...it comes with A LOT of "paper" work.  It will all be worth it.  It's so much fun to work with so many fun, neat people and to see the final products come together so beautifully on their wedding dates!

On today's agenda: finish up wedding quotes, go through the dahlias to see which ones are still viable for sprouting and work out the details of our planting schedule for this season.  Better get busy!

Catching Up!

I'm a bit behind, AGAIN.  As usual, things have been busy & exciting around our neck of the woods!  During the first week of November, my mom & I (Travis couldn't get away from work) made the trip to Reston, Virginia for the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers' National Conference.  We had a great time & I came home with many great ideas!  Here are some photos from the trip!

Lynnvale Studios is gorgeous!

I'm in love with dahlias...as I'm sure you'll figure out with the coming season!  :)

Yes, those are ALL lilies!!

Gorgeous callas!

I would LOVE to have this many growing houses!

My arrangement for the conference...a little sad by the end of the week...loved those orange dahlias, though!

A great winter foliage for wreaths!  Loved Bob Wollam of Wollam Gardens!...what a neat guy!

It's so much fun getting to meet and learn from so many people who share the same passion & enthusiasm for locally-grown flowers!  I left the conference with such a feeling of excitement to get jumping into the 2012 season!