Lazy Flower Farmer

I try to be as lazy a farmer as I can be . . but you know, that’s not such a bad thing after all. If a flower likes to grow just by being scattered on some welcoming soil, why would I want to go to all the trouble of seeding it in trays, watching it like a hawk, and transplanting each little plant by hand.Now, most flowers we grow here aren’t as carefree as these direct sowers and we like the fancy ones enough we’re willing to put in all the work, but the toss-em-and-forget-em ones have my heart. These warm days aren’t here for keeps so we’ve gotta be careful what we’re dropping into that bit of dirt but this time of year, when you start seeing little weeds pop up, you know those guys are ready for company. This week we’re planting bupleurum, dill, nigella, cornflower and corn cockle. We drop seeds directly into prepared dirt in nice straight rows so we can weed easily when they get all crowded and then we let Mother Nature take the wheel.  Since seed isn’t worth as much as our time if they don’t make it we haven’t lost the farm over it.Still time through March to get the chill lovers in so if you don’t have any seed hidden away it’s not too late to find some. Johnny’s Seeds is a great place to order and their online catalog and plant culture can make you an expert overnight. So give direct seeding a try . . it just might give your mind a happy warm place to land.

Cornflower and bupleurum

Now, if you really want to learn all the hard stuff about flower farming, all the nitty gritty details from start to finish, you can join us for our Flower Farming 101 Workshop Saturday, March 15. We’ll probably tell you more than you want to know, but it’s taken us so long to learn it we feel we’ve gotta pass it along.  It’s a full afternoon but our voices will give out eventually ad we’ll let you go home. Maybe you want to start flower farming as a business or maybe you just want to start growing the right way and see where it takes you – we’re here for you either way. We’ll be in the hoop and field, we’ll be sharing knowledge and a 9 page handout, demonstrating all kinds of growing techniques, watching growing videos at our house, telling where all the local resources are and so much more. We’ve enjoyed following the flower journeys of our FF101 grads and many are growing beautifully and profitably and having fun while they grow. Click link.

The rewards of flower farming

And if you want to enjoy flowers but don’t want the work of growing them you might enjoy our flower share. Flower shares or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)  provide a unique opportunity to receive beautiful, locally grown and arranged flowers, bringing a bit of our farm into your home or office each week. Our Early Spring CSA share will begin in March, likely the 11th or 18th (come on weather!) and will continue for 6 week. Bouquets can be picked up Tuesdays at the farm or at Reclaimed Inspired Goods in Johnson City. Lots of details in this link and we’ll be posting to social media in the next few days.

CSA bouquets

Thanks for spending a moment with us and we’ll hope our paths will cross soon!