We had a slim year for flowers this year due to draught. This led us to be creative and try something different this fall - painting flowers. We teamed up with Meet Ups Warrenton Adventures and offered a two hour meet up to pick a vase of flowers and paint your own masterpiece. It was a mixed group in age and painting experience but all had fun and left with their own unique paintings.

We will definitely be repeating this next year starting in the spring. We will post it on our "Hours" page and also team up again with the Warrenton Adventure Group.

This fall we are trying something new.

The weather has been unpredictable which makes flowers unpredictable. Our water source is ground water and when we have a drought the ground water dries out. We also do not irrigate our flower beds, we accept what nature gives us. Some years are good, lately it is has been bad.

The quantity of flowers might be low but we do still have flowers. Some wildflowers are very draught resistant. We are a family of artist. We have decided to combine the two. If it goes well we will continue with activities and events next season. Are first trial "Paint Your Flower Masterpiece" will be September 21st through Meet- Up. 

https://www.meetup.com/warrenton-adventures/events/303194685/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=yourEvent_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link

Last week after two difficult years I decided to reopen my farm. I updated my website and thought briefly about posting a Blog. I didn’t because I had nothing to say.

Well today I have something to say - OMG is it hot.

Thursdays are garden days here on this farm. I love a routine it keeps me active and focused. I have a helper who comes every Thursday from 9 to noon. We start early and we finish by noon, before it gets too hot. Today we did not last past 11 am.

While working in the garden I spend hours observing and thinking. When I text my son sometimes I start by saying “I have been thinking…” I always wonder if his first thought is “oh no, not again - stop thinking”.

I have been thinking . . .

I am a morning person, I rise with the sun and set with the sun. I have always assumed all farmers are morning people. Animals need to be fed in the morning and it is coolest in the morning.

What happens if the mornings are no longer cool? It is 7 am and I am sitting outside typing this Blog and I can already feel the heat rising. How does a farmer adapt?

What about my farm how will people pick flowers if it is too hot? The flowers seem resilient. They seem to grow in draughts or too much rain. Will they grow in extended extreme heat?

Several years ago we were closed on select days due to extreme heat but those days were in August not the beginning of July. I believe in global warming. I am experiencing it, I can feel it and see it. I have six years of my own data to look back on and compare previous years.

How did we get to this point in time?

I’m at the tail end of the baby boomers, our parents motto was “make this plant a better place for our children”. I think they did. They survived first hand the great depression and two world wars. They were motivated.  So what happened to our generation? Is our motto “Lets destroy the planet for our children”. Looks like we are succeeding. At least we created the internet and cell phones to distract them from the pending doom. Their future will be indoors or maybe underground. Who needs nature when you have the internet and your cell phone? Maybe flowers in the future will only exist in pictures generated by A!. Endless flowers on a screen, no water needed.

Well as the heat rises, I will need to adapt. We do have beautiful sunsets here, perhaps I will adapt by having evening hours instead of daylight hours. Time will tell. Watch our “Hours” page for updates on closures, due to "extreme heat" or new evening hours.

This year I learned that the universe has a plan, in its own time, not ours? The pandemic did not end, maybe next year. Here in Virginia we had a drought earlier in the summer which resulted in low ground water levels. Interestedly the flowers still bloomed, but in there own time, a little later and a little smaller.

At our flower and herb farm we believe in letting nature do it's thing. We do not water our flower beds if it does not rain, the morning dew provides the water the flowers need. We do no til farming, this means when the flowers die back we let them decompose in the beds to provide nutrients to our soil for next year. In late fall we mulch our beds with either pine needles or wood chips made from the trees we trim back or have died. Recycle, reuse, refurbish. Till next spring.

Our daffodils have past and we now wait for the next batch of flowers. I am always amazed that very few people are interested in picking daffodils. Maybe because they are so cheap in the grocery store and so common. My experience with store bought daffodils is that once you take them home and put them in water they die very quickly. Fresh picked daffodils can last a week or two, if you change the water regularly.

Did you know that there are many variations of daffodils? Daffodils are mostly yellow but come in shades of yellow and white. There have small flowers as well as large common flowers. Some bloom as early as March other later in April.

This was our third year at growing flowers. Every year has been a learning experience, this one was not as expected. I continue to learn more about flowers every year, but this year I learned about myself as well.  I learned how to pause and be present in the moment.  I have always been a planner and even though I have Plan A, B & C sometimes all plans fail. I have learned that at times when you cannot plan, just take each day as it comes. The universe has a plan for all of us, sometimes we need to let it guide us.

These cards below were given to me by a friend. My mother taught me about the use of herbs, flowers also have a medicinal purpose. 

I will not lie, it has been a rough summer. Adapting to a new way of life has been difficult for everyone. Do we open, do we not? We did open earlier in the spring, which I think was a good it provided an escape for many families. I was not sure if I should open again, but I have decided to try. I will be open on Saturday and Sundays by appointment only through September. Our flower beds are not as well maintained as previous years, with out our apprentices and interns things have become a little wild. We have to remember mother nature rules us, no matter how hard we battle against her.

Starting July 27th we will be opening on Saturday mornings. Just as it is too hot for us to work after 12 noon, it has become too hot to pick flowers. This weekend it is being forecasted for excessive heat and for the safety of all we will be closed. This change is better for customers because it is better to pick flowers in the morning than in the afternoon. The best times to pick flowers are early in the morning or late in the evening. This is because the stems are filled with water and the air is cooler.  Tips for picking flowers.