Flower farmer

This flower farm is updating- Out with the old & in with the new

Honestly December was a blur as I’m sure it was for everyone! I’ve had to cover and uncover the hardy annuals because of unusually cold temperatures. Website updates have been happening …hopefully you noticed? But the biggest news, Acres Abloom has an exterior shop!! The interior will take a while as I want to get it right the first time. Just moving items from the basement to the barn seems to be taking a long time! Going through things making sure I am keeping the flower farm lean this time.

Frost covers -it’s a love hate relationship

I went through some of my old, dried flowers, and some of my seedling trays and other equipment that is out of date. We will save dry flowers this year so new ones will be ready for the fall wreath season. Because we use soil blocking about 80% of the time I don’t need plastic trays that are cracked chipped or broken!

Yup that’s snow!

Outside, the new beds are under tarps to choke out the weeds & weed seeds and they are ready for transplanting as soon as it’s time.

The new shop exterior

We have not been able to get power or water to the barn. Thinking outside the box for now. Planning a rain water recycling program to water & wash/fill the buckets. Electricity will be more of a challenge! Electric company is charging a huge amount to bring us power -even with us doing the labor! For now we will use a generator if completely necessary and work daylight hours only. Flower seedlings need light so that will be the next challenge. It’s sunny & warm during the day but they still need 16 total hours of light per day and generators are loud so we need to figure it out.

Animals, Flower farmer, flowers, local, Sustainable, Uncategorized

People ask me, “What do you do in the winter?”.

 

 I smile because I know they are thinking that it’s my down time.
Winter isn’t a time for rest, but rather a change in farm duties.  Farming is not just work in the fields, sweating and tired from hours bent over, tending to plants & animals. Farming is my business. It’s a business that is a year-round, full-time job.
Farmers spend the winter planning, studying seed catalogs & crop spreadsheets & figuring out breeding pairs & grazing plans. Setting up the farm calendar for the year is a huge undertaking with many moving parts!  Winter is also when the ewes are lambing & the goats are kidding!  It’s when the wood can be split and the barn gets a much needed cleaning.   I also spend the winter working on marketing plans, updating the website & blog and even figuring out financial stuff.  This year I’m excited to be doing some long-term, planning for what is next here and at our new farm.  So although I do get a little break from weeding & cutting flowers, it feels a little too short and I never get caught up.  Hopefully some of my future plans will help me with time management and a leaner farm!  
First lamb of the season 💕
Animals, Flower farmer, flowers, local, mother nature, Sustainable, Uncategorized

Winter fun!

So today the sheep decided to go for a walk about! I never worry during winter bc the flowers are farther away than they will venture! They prefer the paths so I never snow-blow to the fall planted seeds that are slowly growing the way Mother Nature intended. Keeping animals & growing unique cut flowers always has its challenges but it’s worth it!

Walk about
Coming home to mama