Gearing Up for Our First Year
There’s a lot to do when starting a farm - and we’ve been busy getting ready for our first season.
It is January, and while it is a slow month for actual farming, it is busy in terms of planning and off-season projects. Since we are starting from scratch, we have a lot of infrastructure to build in the coming months. We’re talking a: germination chamber, greenhouse, walk-in cooler, packing area, roadside farmstand… all before spring! We’ve been drawing up plans and gathering supplies, and we’ll be using as many reclaimed materials as possible in the process.
Meanwhile, preparing to actually GROW STUFF takes some serious planning. Our long-term goal is to grow a variety of agricultural products (fruits, cut flowers, dry beans, etc.), but this first year is all about the flowers. We’ll be growing over 35+ varieties of cut flowers, and each species has its own growth habit and needs. It’s a lot of computer work, spreadsheets, and seed orders - somehow both my most and least favorite tasks. Computers are not my strong point (I started farming because I wanted to grow things), but you can’t do that successfully without a good bit of planning first. Plus, there’s a lot of hope and excitement in putting a crop plan in place.
So, that’s where we’re at for the moment. Lots of plans and initial projects, but we can’t wait for the weather to get warm and the growing season to start.