Happy July Ya’ll!
Welcome to Summer! It has been a crazy time building the farm. I find myself simultaneously awed by all that’s gotten done and shocked that I’m not farther along, but always grateful. How lucky am I that I have the means and the ability to build my retirement side hustle now so that when I do retire in 11+ years the farm is running like a well oiled machine. At least we hope the machine is still running by then and it’s not buried in weeds. The weed pressure out here is REAL! (Still no chemicals!)
You might be asking, my dear reader, well, what exactly has been done? I’m happy to say with support and help I’ve gone from a untouched, overgrown field to structure. If you know me personally, you know how much I like my structure!
With the help of my neighbor we went from this…
…to this.
Again grateful! Good neighbors are hard to find and I’m so lucky we’ve got GREAT neighbors who tolerate my shenanigans and my love of all things bugs and nature.
Once everything was plowed it was time to get the plant fabric down. I really struggled with whether to use them at all. I work hard to limit plastic in my life, but I am SO glad I decided for them. I bought the “quick plant” (pre-cute) fabric from Farmers Friend. (I get nothing for sharing their info. I just dig them - no pun intended). Half of the plowed field hasn’t been touched yet because that is where the perennials will go is already covered in growth. I can not imagine what I’d be dealing with if I hadn’t used the fabric. Also, I don’t know what I would have done without my husband helping me get the garden soil and compost down in order to lay out the plant fabric. I’d probably still be trying to get the fabric in place.
Once all 15 rows were in place, it was time to start planting! To be honest I’m still planting, but I will finally be done by the end of this weekend. I know I’m late, but hopefully we get a very late frost this fall so I can extend my growing season. When all is said and done, I’ll have planted over 450 dahlias, over 500 celosia, over 500 zinnias, 120 frosted explosion grasses plugs, 120 stock flowers, 60, China Asters, 180 Queen Anne’s lace and hopefully some sunflowers.
Finally, every flower farm needs a medicinal herb garden so I’m working on getting that built right now. I’ve incorporated eight raised garden beds into the field and it’s where I’ll grow Mint, Chamomile, St John’s wort, Calendula, Lemon Balm, Yarrow, and various Basil plants. They will all be next to my stand of Elderberry bushes. It’s much too late for most herbs this year, but I will be able to transplant my Mint to it’s new home and fill the rest with sunflowers seeds.
Each of the raised beds is 2 feet deep. That’s a lot of dirt if I just filled them with dirt. Also, that idea felt very “monocultureish” to me. Fortunately, I had a solution! Up until last year this field had been filled with two large piles of trees that had been removed when we excavated for our house. I originally had the piles of wood broken up and spread across the field to decompose naturally. Well, that became a problem this spring when I had only given the wood a year to decompose and now I wanted to start the farm. Thanks again to my husband, he helped rake the wood into piles for me. Even when we made the piles I figured they would sit and decompose. That was until I decided to get the raised beds this year. Now the piles of wood are going into the raised beds to support soil quality and improve water retention.
I can’t help but be grateful for those trees. First, the trees “gave” so that the land could nourish my husband and I in our house and then they’ll give again by nourishing the medicinal herbs to be grown.
So very grateful!
Thanks for following along.
Do good stuff.
Sonya
