Plants in the Time of Pandemic

I want to check in right now and send some love your way.  I hope everyone is able to find, at least, some small joys throughout this stressful time.

One of my greatest sources of joy is watching the seeds germinate and grow into the plants that will go into our field.  Let me take this opportunity to peel back the curtain a bit and show you how we do things (right now, at least) at The Flowering Farm.

I am mainly in charge of starting the plants that go into the field.  So, in January, I start waking up the seeds and I keep them in our dining room in a seed starting shelf.  The kids and I glean so much joy from spotting the first glimpses of germination. I baby them along, bump them up when they are ready to grow bigger, and then harden them off on the front porch.

Just like everyone else, we’ve had to switch up our routine due to recent events.  Normally, at this point, I would deliver the flats to the field on Margaret’s land and she and I would have a wonderful time planting and chatting while the kids played.  There would be many breaks to facilitate potty-time (at least for the youngest), to dole out snacks, and mediate any disputes that might arise between the children (usually around naptime of said youngest).  This year, unfortunately, I’ve dropped them off without so much as a nod of the hat and she then plants alone.

I miss our planting days, but it’s a minor blip and we garner such joy from the plants themselves.  We’re excited to see our newest selection of plants grow and flower.  This was our year of the natives.  I picked out eight of our most-wanted native seeds and put them in milk jugs to stratify outside during the winter. *A BIG shout out to Larry’s Dawg House for saving the jugs for me!*

We are excited to bring Coreopsis, Blue Vervain, Zizia Azurea, Wild Quinine, Columbine, Prairie Ninebark, Penstemon Prairie Axe, and Penstemon Grandiflorus into our flower field.  Hopefully, they will bring some beauty and delight to you in a bouquet from Kindred Market, or delivered to your door through a CSA share.  Right now we’re growing as if we will be selling in June, but we’ll wait to take orders until the future is a little more clear.