Well, hello there! It
has been a long month, hasn’t it? Since I last wrote, the coronavirus has swept
through our nation and shut down all kinds of businesses in its wake. Including
mine. My county issued a Public Health Order last week (seems like a long time
ago!) asking all nonessential businesses to shut down. Not demanding—quite yet.
I had a hard decision to make. On the one hand, flowers are essential to me. On the other hand, I was having to go here, there, and everywhere to a) purchase the flowers and b) deliver them. I guess what tipped the scales towards “closed” for me, though, was that I’m doing this out of my home. There is really no way to guarantee that surfaces are sterilized. Not when I have my 2 year old climbing up to help and other children coming in and out every few minutes. Also, my husband works in the medical field, so the chances of him being exposed and then possibly bringing it home are higher than either of us would like to think about.
This one of the last
ones I delivered last month, prior to shut-down.
So…until my temporary
shut-down, I actually had taken 2 or 3 different orders from my Google listing
and delivered them. That was fun while it lasted. I also have at least 2 people
wanting to sign up for a spring CSA subscription (yay!), but I have told them
we would just have to keep in touch on that. Here’s hoping I can start back up
in time for that goodness.
Even though my floral
design work has stopped for now, I have been using any and all extra time
FARMING! It has felt good to get back out there and get my hands in the dirt
again. I am happy to report that I have had some success with seed-starting
this time around, as well. YAY!! I’ve got 2 trays full of forget-me-nots that I
just potted up from 2” blocks to 4” peat pots today, in hopes of Mother’s Day
sales, along with another full tray of petunias, and a smaller one of pansies
for the same purpose.
I also have ammi
hardening off, and rudbeckia getting close to being ready for that. I’m
thinking maybe one more week for the rudbeckias and they should be big enough
to put outside.
Just today I started
6 more small trays of various and assorted flowers: orach, more rudbeckia, 2
types of phlox, statice, and dahlias.
I also bought a whole
bunch of starts from Plant & Grow Nursery in Clearfield. I had been
debating about buying starts, but in the end, they had a great sale (50% off
retail!) and I just went for it. So I have them to thank for my 2nd cool
weather succession planting, which ended up filling 3 rows! One whole row of
Ammi ‘Visagna Green’ (there were more than I expected of that one), Madame
Butterfly snaps, 3 varieties of scabiosas (Red Velvet, Candy, and Raspberry
Scoop,) and 2 varieties of dianthus (Amazon ‘Neon Rose’ and Amazon ‘Rose
Magic’).
I’m not exactly sure
where I’m going to put everything that I’m currently starting, but in the past
I have always had bare stretches, so if nothing else, these can fill in all the
bare spots out there. Although, I do believe I will have room for maybe 2 more
long flowerbeds to fill up.
Other than farming, I
have been doing about the same thing as you, probably: homeschooling my kids,
hardly leaving my house for any reason, trying to get outside every day for
some fresh air and sunshine. Keeping my distance and becoming even more
socially awkward than usual with those who do want to chat (from 6 feet away,
of course).
Here’s hoping we can
get back to more normal life soon!
How are things with you?
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