“February is the border between winter and spring.” — Terri Guillemets
Celebrated my 'independence' day last week, 365 days of living life free from the chains a job that made me miserable. 365 days of working for myself, and things that matter. Never thought it would be financially possible, but with our skills combined and extreme determination we have remained self employed. Momming with my 19mo son Myles, loving my husband, growing food & flowers, baking bread, raising chickens, building community and making house a HOME. Finding my roots and forgetting the rest! It's been the most wholesome, memorable and sincere year of my entire life and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
When I first dove into all this just last March, my sweet friend Haley drew this picture. She recognized how free I was and drew this as a symbol of my liberation. I hold it so dear to my heart! It reminds me about something regarding the Statue of Liberty you may not know. Have you ever looked at her right foot? She is in motion. One foot in front of another. Her right foot is thought to symbolize movement. She is not just standing there. Liberty & Freedoms are not granted to you by standing around like some sort of statue. Lady Liberty is a timely reminder that our freedoms and ideals must never be taken for granted and we must work for them. So that is exactly what I've been doing, working, moving, getting 'er done. We have accomplished a lot, even though it may look like a little. February focused on field prep, seed starting, pruning, and lots of planning. One foot in front of the other, just like Myles.
Wrapping up the Floret Workshop this week and have learned an incredible amount of information which I hope you will see reflected in the bounty and heart I'm giving this season. If you want to support us today sign up for one of our Bouquet Clubs! Buying in advance allows us to plan ahead for our season and gives you the best of the blooms throughout the season. Show us some love! Snowdrops have started popping their sweet little heads up, always a welcomed site in the dead of winter here in the PNW. In no time at all we will be swimming in fragrant daffodils, peony tulips and Italian ranunculus!
Snagged a Illuminati Arch Mockorange 'Philadelphus coronarius' at Sunnyside Nursery with my Mom. We are notorious for lurking local nursery's adding to our perennial collections.
The hellebores are blooming in full swing and it never ceases to amaze me how many blooms can be on just one plant. We have a plant in the yard with over 50 flowers on it! Nature is magic. Change my mind!
Mount Aso Japanese Pink Pussy Willows time to shine is February. She is really thriving near the creek on our property and starting to really branch out on it's 4th year in the ground.
Had the honor of attending the first ever Snohomish County Flower Farmer meetup with a group of awesome farmers. We have some absolutely exciting things in the works, and I *cannot wait* to share more. For now, I'll leave you with a teaser because you are not going to want to miss our markets. Our goal is to connect local flower farmers directly to the community at the "Snoco Flower Collective" a weekly one stop shop for heirloom, unique & fragrant seasonal flowers. Please stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for more information on how you can be involved and support your local farmer.
Pruning our orchard heavily this year in hopes we have more fruit. Somehow pruning always leads to interesting positioning and loads of ingenuity on my husbands behalf. Love this guy always supporting my wild dreams.
Still finalizing our field expansion and have lots of raking to do but it's coming along. We layered cardboard and mulch down under the dirt. We are taking a no-dig approach so fingers crossed this crazy plan works!
I'm a huge fan of working with what you got - I do not have a fancy greenhouse. It's so easy to start comparing yourself to others who do have those things, but we need to accept where we are in our journey. For now I use this grow tent in my garage - we pack it out and it gets the job done. I've sacrificed parking my car in the garage, all for the love of plants friends. I'm slowing filling up the left hand side too and adding lights as I go! This is where the magic starts.
Had two loads of woodchip dropped off yesterday (one load pictured below) to mulch pathways in the field. I'm trying to avoid spending a ton of money, love being resourceful so did not want to invest in landscape fabric. We have a cousin who owns a logging business and he brought us some chip for free. Score! Now to break my back shoveling paths, but I'll be thanking myself later when the field *hopefully* remains weed free for the season. Looks a mess, and it is, that's farming!
Here is Myles helping Mom pick a few Pussy Willows to bring in the house. This age is so adorably exhausting. I'll never not be excited when Myles plays with this silly rake. It is a symbol that reminds me to believe in myself. This last year in November I got an opportunity to work at Floret Flower Farm packing seed orders. One day I was working in the right place at the right time and this was gifted to me by Erin. I never in a million years thought I would have an opportunity to stand in the same room with her, let alone have her gift me a rake for my son. It might have been such a small thing in her day never to be thought of again, but to me it meant everything, a beacon of hope and I'll cherish it forever. It also gave me that sign that I needed, that I was finding the right path and to keep putting one foot in front of another.
Last day of February and it dumped snow all day long. Once it stopped I brought Myles outside to play in it, watching him be curious in nature reminds me why I'm doing all this in the first place. I get to be home with my child building something far greater than myself while connecting to the seasons & nature in a way most families don't get to enjoy. I get to spread the joy of flowers to my community. One foot in front of the other!
It might be snowing outside, but my heart is blooming and so is this scented geranium cutting in the greenhouse! When I went to water today I was surprised by the pink color poking out to say hello. If you've never enjoyed the sweet aroma of a scented geranium, then you are missing out! This upcoming season expect to smell lots of delicious fragrance in your bouquets. I've got all sorts of treasures growing that will put you in a state of absolute bliss!
We usually head outside at dusk for a family walk to get some fresh air and found ourselves staying out later and later with the light sticking around longer. Seems like every night about 5:30-6pm everyone starts getting all stir crazy and the only solace is nature and fresh air.
Here is Daddy & Myles on the tractor. We don't own it, but luckily my husbands Mom lets us borrow it when we have heavy duty chores to match. Myles approves.
Viburnum x bodnantense 'Pink Dawn' is always one of the first perennials on the farm to awake. Her fragrance is of a sweet vanilla scent and always a pleasure to welcome in early February. The plants are just teasing us into spring blooms reminding us that February is the bridge between winter and spring. I'll keep putting one foot in front of another and am entirely certain March will fly by too quickly!
Until next time flower friends!
XO