The Highs and Lows
I feel like diving into this business has left me more vulnerable than I have ever felt in my life. Stepping way out of my comfort zone into the unknown, hoping that I grow and the business grows and all of the unknowns will smoothly weave their way into creating something that is good and lasting.
If you were to come see our farm right now you would probably laugh and think...seriously? Where are those flowers coming from? We currently have 10 of our 29 beds with something planted or growing in them but not all are currently blooming. It is about to get super crazy around here in the next few weeks as we will be direct seeding and starting thousands of seeds and preparing the rest of the beds. There were some definite highs and some definite lows to this past week and I want all of you to see this journey for what it is and come along on this ride with me so I am sharing it all with you...the good...the bad...the ugly...and even the occasional breakdown :-)
Here are the highs from last week:
I had a wonderful talk with one of our local florists who is excited at the prospect of being able to buy locally grown flowers (#communityovercompetition) and almost everything he asked me if I would be growing I was able to say yes!
I am excited to announce that for those who live a little farther away in the county and are interested in our bouquet share, we are now on board with Snowflakes on the Square. Donna was extremely happy and excited to allow us to bring our bouquets in and use her store as a pick up location.
I have a meeting with a local business about selling bouquets at their restaurant and was also contacted by another who would like to incorporate locally grown blooms into their business.
I was able to harvest armloads of tulips, daffodils and anemones this past week and there truly is nothing that makes me happier than working outside with gorgeous flowers.
Now the lows:
Due to the highs and lows of our temperatures this past winter some of the tulips are on the short side which is very disappointing to me but am still finding uses for them.
I had planted ranunculus last fall and was so so so excited to see these babies bloom (if you do not know what a ranunculus is google it!), I was dreaming all winter about armloads of them. Let's just say there are no armloads of ranunculus. I think our temps were just to cold for them. I won't say that I'll never try them again but not until our farm is more established. They were to much of an investment and totally fizzled.
I had flowers blooming like crazy on the Friday before Easter, I offered mini bouquets for Easter arrangements not even thinking that a single one would sell and I had people messaging and texting left and right and had to turn folks away before I knew it. I was running around in the flower beds after 10pm harvesting additional blooms like a crazy lady. Lesson learned in that is to list availability from the get go!
Thanks for reading this blog, buying and supporting locally grown; I can't wait to see where 2017 takes Back Mountain Flower Farm!!
Katie
