Mid-Season Reflections
This season has not been an easy one. Yes, every season feels challenging, but this one just feels especially challenging. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. I can rant all day about them, but I decided to share only three mistakes that I have made so far this season.
3 Mistakes I Made This Season on My Farm
1) Weed Management
At the start of the season, I was absolutely on top of weed management. I’d do whatever farm task I planned to do and then end my day with 20-30 minutes of weeding. My mom came to take a look at the farm and said, “Calm down! You don’t need to weed every day. Let the weeds go for a while and we’ll tackle them later.” I should have not listened and just kept up with my routine. The excessive rain certainly provided fuel for excessive weeds. The hard, physical labor of weeding isn’t what bothers me - it’s the amount of time that it takes. When you have long rows and you’re hacking down weeds with a hoe, it can seem like forever until you reach the end. The biggest worry I had were my dahlias. Thanks to my mom, my brother, and Nick (and of course Donut) we were able to successfully de-weed and save the dahlias in three days.
2) Some crops I did not plant enough and some crops I planted too much.
This is good and bad. I tend to underestimate the number of crops we can sell or use, which leads to me not starting enough seeds (I’m working on building my confidence.). There are so many things I planted and love, but I know I don’t have enough (silene and asters). But there are also things I planted and was really excited about, but ended up hating it (sweet peas – sorry, I’m not on-board with the hype). I guess this finding the balance and knowing what works just comes with time and experience. As a new grower, I have to remember this and forgive myself for mistakes.
3) Not taking full advantage of cool flowers.
I talked about this in a previous post, but oh my, this was probably my greatest mistake. Lisa Mason Ziegler is damn right when it comes to cool flowers. Listen to her! I did not sow enough, but I’m really glad that I took the time to sow some last fall. Having filler really saved me this spring. I am gearing up this weekend to start seeds for fall planting. I know now to be ready!
Although this season has been filled with mistakes, at the same time, there have been some major wins for us this season.
3 Highlights (so far) This Season
1) Markets
The majority of markets this year has gone great! We enjoy connecting with the people of the different communities we visit. We especially enjoy connecting with our fellow small business owners. We thank everyone for your support! Without you all, there would be no JARN Co.
2) Petrikor
For those that don’t know, we do not live on-site on our farm. We live in Everett, but our farm is based in Monroe. We have been dying to have our flowers be accessible to our resident city on a regular basis, but kept hitting dead ends and receiving rejections. Enter Petrikor! Petrikor is a modern general store located in downtown Everett. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you definitely should! We are grateful that they have given us the opportunity to be a part of their beautiful store. On top of that, the owners, Aaron and Scott, are just delightful people. I am happy that they are a part of the Everett community!
3) Expansion of design portfolio
Last season, I drove myself into the ground with design work. On top of markets, I was juggling multiple orders and a wedding every weekend. By the end of the season, I could barely move and needed some serious recoup. I decided this year to be more selective towards design work I took on because I realized it’s not possible for me to say ‘yes’ to it all. By being more selective, I actually came to enjoy event floral design again and took on some really cool projects this season. My favorite one so far is the photobooth I designed for the BLOS Tea Party.
I have decided that I need to try my best to blog regularly. I am not sure what kind of posts you would want to read though. A “how-to”? Floral design? A day at market? Please leave a comment and give me your suggestions. :)
