2021 Reading & Gardening Goals

 Hello, and welcome back! Despite a rather rough start, I have hope for this new year to be brighter than the last. 

Just last Sunday I sat down and wrote out some personal resolutions for 2021. As I was doing so, I realized that I haven't written down resolutions for 3 years--in fact, all 3 of the years that we were in Utah. I probably need to read back in my journal to see if I even mentioned a reason why I did not, but I have a whole sheaf of papers--my past year's resolutions--and the newest date on top was 2017. Wow. Past time to get back in the game! 

Reading Goals

So anyway, let's talk about reading goals for this year, shall we? I have had some floating around in my brain. Let's see if I can distill them down. 

1--Read mostly nonfiction. I want to focus this year on really learning from what I read--not that you can't learn things from fiction. I am just feeling a push to seek out biographies, true history, and other such narrative nonfiction that will enrich my life and perhaps that I can share with my kids as well. 

I am certain that I will read plenty of fiction around the edges, but this year I want the bulk to be nonfiction. 

2--Clean up my reading. For better or worse, I'm pretty good at skimming over cursing in a book--unless it gets too egregious-- and skipping sex scenes, etc. However, when I then turn around and try to recommend these books to my impressionable young tween, and he comes and says--"Mom, this book swears so much! I had to put it down." Well, that's not good. He's a great example for me. 

It's going to be a bit tough, I think. I've already had 2 books that I've wanted to read for awhile, that I either found for really cheap on Kindle or otherwise acquired, and have had to put both down for content reasons.

So, if you know of any great clean reads for me, let me know!  

Gardening Goals

If you've been around here for very long, you probably know that I had a little flower farm in Utah. I loved it! Every spare minute I was either working on the growing, harvesting, arranging, planning, business, or marketing. Perhaps that's why my personal resolutions fell by the wayside? Hmm...food for thought.

In any case, we felt like our family needed a change. After much discussion, prayer, and thought, we decided to move to the Oregon Coast. So, here we are. I had to shut down my beloved flower business and leave it behind. I know this move was the right thing for our family. I have faith that God will bring this desire for flowers and farming and floristry back around for me in some form, when His timing is right.

In the meantime, we are living in a rental home, with no outdoor growing space. I had just resigned myself to a year without growing anything. Then my husband gave me the sweetest Christmas present ever--he bought and built me a moveable garden bed to put somewhere on this property, and he found out that there are community gardens here, AND reserved 2 spaces for us! I was so touched.

The boxes in the community garden are 30'x5'. I have suddenly started thinking and dreaming about planting again. I think we're going to have one of the community garden boxes for vegetables, and let the kids plan and plant that one together. I'm going to take the other one for flowers. So excited! I haven't decided yet what will go in the one at the house. 

Without further explanations, here are the goals for this year:

1--Utilize every inch of space we have for planting! Fill up my outdoor flower pots, get all of 3 of the garden spaces filled with plants.

2--Support my kids in their vegetable growing plans. 

3--Grow a rainbow of flowers. This is the idea I have been playing around with for my flower bed at the community garden. I don't have space to start seedlings, so I'll have to either go with those that can be direct-seeded, or purchased as starts from a nursery. 

Red: zinnias, possibly pincushion flowers or snapdragons, nasturtiums

Orange: Marigolds, Geum, maybe lilies 

Yellow: sunflowers, possibly marigolds and zinnias again, black-eyed susans

Green: Bells of Ireland, parsley, basil, oregano, or other herbs

Blue: bachelor's buttons--of course, possibly sweet peas--they should do well in this cool, rainy climate, annual salvia if I can find it

Indigo/Purple: So many purple flowers that I love! Salvias, bellflower, forget-me-nots, larkspur, pansies and violas, petunias...

I may cheat a bit and throw in some pink and white, or I may save those for elsewhere. 

* * * 

It's a little strange to include flowers that don't make great cut flowers in my plans again. Strange, but good. Also, since I'm just renting the space, I won't put in any perennials that I would have to dig up later in order to keep them...probably. 

Now I need to find my seed container--haven't seen it since the move--and figure out what I've already got that I can use, and what I need to order.

If you are planning on doing any gardening this year, be sure to order your seeds early--they will probably sell out again, like last year!

Utah Home, Then and Now

 As we're getting ready to move to Oregon (by the way, we're moving to Oregon!), I thought it would be fun to do the same Before and After series that I did for our Pullman home. 

When we moved in, everything was brown, dead, and dry. There were very few flowers, and a lot more fruit trees. Our outbuildings have changed quite a bit. Are you ready? Here we go!

Front of House

THEN

NOW

Not a huge difference, except the lawn and the little maple tree are both alive and green.

For those with very sharp eyes, you may notice that the swamp cooler is also no longer on the roof--we switched to central air!

Front Flowerbeds

NOW

Admittedly, this bed is chock full of bindweed.

I should have taken a picture after the last time we weeded it!

It has a couple of rose bushes, a peony, some irises, and lots of spring bulbs.

                                        

I do enjoy this front corner bed. It's got all kinds of things in it these days: sedum, daylilies, asters, roses, peonies, irises, scabiosa. It makes me happy all summer long.

We also added these front flowerbeds all the way down the fence on either side.

I still feel like I was just getting started with those, but what's in there is pretty.

Front Shade Beds

THEN

NOW

A little more greenery in there. 

I meant to put matching hydrangeas on each side, but ended up only getting the left side planted with those. I also added lady's mantle, feverfew, heuchera, and hostas.

Back Yard

THEN

Garden spot, orchard, and the woodshed there on the right.

Woodshed, fire pit, garden shed

Looking back towards the house.

Far back corner

NOW

Garden with greenhouse

A much more sparse orchard, unfortunately.

Chicken Palace in the background.

Our fruit trees have died off like crazy!

Our new fire pit area, and the shed we put in.

Woodshed and garden tool storage add-ons to the shed.

The inside essentially became my husband's workshop.

Garden area, from the back deck.

Looking back at the house. New deck.

Toward the far corner.

Back Flowerbeds

THEN

NOW

This bed doesn't look all that different than before, but the surroundings are much nicer! :) 

We did finally get this corner flowerbed put in.

This is another flowerbed full of good stuff, and also full of bindweed.

It has been a losing fight on my end with the bindweed here.

This bed also holds 5 peonies, coreopsis, yarrow, daisies, a couple of sickly rosebushes, and several spring bulbs.

Oval Flowerbed

THEN

NOW

Well, this is not the glamour shot by any means!

Also, I had this bed completely weeded a month ago and now it's full of grass and bindweed again.

Sigh. 

So from 6 lonely rose bushes, it now has a pie cherry tree, several roses, a peony, lots of spring bulbs, 2 ninebark bushes, bachelor's buttons, asters, phlox, and coreopsis.

Here was this bed back in May:

A little better representation of the goodness!

I am proud of what we accomplished in the 3 years we've been here. 

Now we're headed off to a rental home, with a tiny little yard, and no landscaping duties at all.

I wonder what we're going to do with our time? 

List Making for the Greater Good

I have been thinking quite a lot this week about the direction I want to take my business. There are so many options out there—particularly as a Farmer Florist—and so far I feel like I have trying a little bit of several different things. However, I think for my business to grow and really take off, I need to get very specific with my vision for it. Where I want it to go, what I want to specialize in—find my niche and put all my efforts toward making it work. 

Hence, the list making. Yesterday I sat down and wrote out several Pros and Cons lists, regarding different areas I could focus on. Do you want to know the titles?

Okay, here they are:

Every Day Flowers

Wedding Flowers (floral design)

Farming Flowers (in general)

Wholesale Flowers (me growing them and selling them to florists wholesale)

U-pick Flowers

Landscape Design

* * *

To start with, I’m trying to figure out where I am on the Farmer-Florist spectrum. Mostly a grower who does floral design to support my plant habit? Or mostly a designer who grows my own flowers to give my designs that special something? The past year and a half I’ve been trying to just do both—all of everything. To be really honest, I feel like a lot of things have fallen through the cracks that way.

So another list I need to make is one that includes all the things that need to be done for this business to run well. I’m talking everything from seed starting to Instagram posts, from sending out invoices to refreshing my booth at the Morgan Mercantile. (The booth is actually a whole list of its own right there. I feel like it’s sort of a separate beast and I need to figure out how best to use it as a support and marketing tool for my flowers.)

Then with that list in hand, figure out which stuff is the best use of my time and then…what to do about the rest of it. Hire it out if I can, or narrow my focus, or possibly hire an employee.

I am only one person, doing this part time while also mothering 4 kids. I am realizing more and more that this business I have taken on is really 2 separate full-time jobs, and trying to figure out how to mesh them together has been a challenge for me at times. For instance, last month when I was working on wedding flowers, most of my outside chores pretty much got put on hold. I did the very basics, but most of my free time was spent doing wedding flowers—planning, pricing, purchasing, prepping, creating, etc. This month I have spent more time outside in this first week than I did all last month.

Another consideration along those lines: farming is very seasonal—around here it’s April to September. So if I am going to focus on mostly farming, then that has got to be my go time, with some rest/slow down throughout the winter months. The problem is that summers are also when all of my children are home from school and need supervision, outings, refereeing, attention, all the food, etc. As a floral designer, however, most of the bigger events that people want flowers for are in the winter months: school dances, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. Floral design goes all year, but tends to slow down in the summer—if you’re not doing weddings.

So, a lot to think about. Once I make a few decisions along these lines, I need to update my business plan and narrow in on my ideal client, then make my marketing and day-to-day use of time follow suit.

Do you write lists to help you figure things out? Tell me about a recent list you’ve made!

Bring Out Yer Dead! Plants

Here in the heat of midsummer, it has become apparent that various and assorted plants that were assumed to possibly still have a spark of life, are actually stone dead. Yup. It’s time to pull out those quitters and put some things in that will actually thrive! (We hope.)

My plan today was to do just that. Everywhere in the yard, orchard, garden, etc. However, as such plans tend to do, this one went a bit awry. I got sidetracked deadheading roses, chopping back catmint, weeding the front flowerbeds, and planting that one lone geranium that has somehow survived without watering in its pot since May. (See! Now THAT’S the kind of perseverance I want to see more of around here! Good job geranium. Props to you. You got a pot all to yourself just for that.)

So, for my own record-keeping, here’s a list of what I did, and what I still need to do.

Yanked Today 

Bonus! It was much easier to get all that grass out of there once the dead rose was gone.

• The dead English rose in the front fence flowerbed. It was supposed to be hardy to zone 4. Phhht. Tell me another one. It’s fellow got a stay of execution thanks to one live branch coming up, but only just. When you’re front and center, you gotta LIVE!

• Garden peas. These I don’t have as much rancor towards. It was just their time. The kids picked all remaining peas and ate them first—even the nasty old ones that I suggested throwing to the chickens. They would not be deterred. Better them than me, I guess!

Yummy peas. These were from a couple of weeks ago. Today’s were not nearly so delectable. Trust me.

I am toying with the idea of starting some peas now for fall. I have never attempted a fall crop of peas before, because usually by fall I’m ready to put the garden to bed. Have you done it? Do you recommend it? I really do love peas fresh from the garden, so maybe just maybe it would be worth the end of season work.

Okay, so there were only 2 today. Hey, 2 is better than none!

Headed for the Chopping Block

• The sweet cherry tree in the orchard. It was looking mostly great last year, until Attack of the Aphids happened. Then the grafted half died off completely. Then apparently the rest died, because that’s what it is now: dead all the way through. It’s right between the greenhouse and a rose bed back there, so once it’s gonzo, I think I’m going to put in a raised bed there or something.

We never even got any cherries from it—the cheapskate! Teasing us with the possibility of cherries, only to snatch that dream away. Four words for you, cherry tree: Goodbye and Good Riddance!

I still want cherries, so I am scouting out a different location for a new tree. Maybe somewhere in the front, across from my pie cherry tree. Also, no fancy grafted one this time. That tree was supposed to have 2 different varieties on it, but the trouble all started with the graft. Even before the aphids, there was a deep crack that had buggy webbing inside it, right at the point of the graft. That could not have been good.

 

• Apple tree. I tell you what, we can’t seem to keep our orchard trees alive for anything! We’ve lost one each year up until now, and this year we’ll be pulling out 2! It’s rough. Strangely, the tiny apple tree that’s pretty much been a deer buffet bar is the one that’s surviving. Weird.

 

• Sycamore out back. This one makes me sad. We had such high hopes for this tree. It was supposed to grow fast and be a climbing tree before all our kids were out of the house. We were also hoping for some shade for what will eventually be the back yard. We bought it big and it lived for…awhile. Nope. Not anymore. Done. Firewood. (SIGH)

Also, the front oval bed that looked amazing this spring is a mess right now. It needs some major help and attention. Mostly, I think, it needs some summer bloomers to fill in the gaps and help compete with the weeds. I’m thinking ‘Cheyenne Spirit’ echinacea, if I can find it this fall. Guillardia would work too. It’s got a few roses blooming, and the ninebark looks fantastic, but most of the rest is just an eyesore—to put it plainly. It is.

So round about next month I’m going to—what, you thought I was going to jump right on that this week? HA! I do not plant things in July. Not ever. Anymore. I have learned my lesson good and hard on that point. Do I seem like the kind of gardener that will baby something through a hot spell? Anything I planted this month would likely need to be watered a couple of times a day, even to survive. No thank you. Not doing that. I know myself well enough to know that it would not happen. So, like I was saying—mid to late August, early September. Target dates for planting a few more things. On it.

* * * * *

Now a break for Thoughts While Weeding:

I pulled up 2 goathead thorn plants in my vegetable garden today. I actually pulled up a couple of them yesterday, too. If I didn’t know what they were, boy would I have been fooled! They were not at the thorn-making stage yet, just a pretty little plant with tiny yellow flowers. There is no indication, at this stage, that the thorns these things produce will puncture bicycle tires, go straight through leather gloves and stick in the soles of your shoes, only to come off in the carpet later and cause serious damage.

Recognizing them for what they were, I immediately pounced on them and tore them out. They may not have gotten as high a priority if I didn’t know their true nature.

Is there something else in your life that is like that?

I’m going to just let you ponder on that for a moment.

Deep thoughts from the thick of the weed patch.

* * * * *

My son sold polished rocks, there on the left. I sold fork bugs, mixed bouquets, and a few vase arrangements.

Hmm..what else should I tell you? Oh, I did my first Farmer’s Market here in town last Saturday. It was a lot of fun! I sold a few things, got to hang out with my oldest son for a few hours, and met some nice people—some of them my neighbors! I even got 16 people to sign up for my email list. I had decided the day would be a success no matter how much I sold if I could get 10 signed up. Success! Now to get them added in to the computer. In fact, that may be the next thing on my list tonight.

Also, I met with my niece to walk about Wedding Flowers! So excited! She wants mostly silk flowers, except for her bouquet and groom’s bout, the table centerpieces, and the cake flowers. Since I haven’t done as much with fake flowers, it took some time to sit down and price things out. I did that, and got her estimate sent off, so whew! Even put in a preliminary order for some of the stuff I know I’ll need. The wedding is next month, so there’s not much time to lose! Her colors are going to be pink, blush, peach, and pops of coral and gold. It’s going to be so pretty!

p.s. I couldn’t bring myself to pay for fake carnations. The cheapest ones I could find, by the time I added on shipping, were still more expensive than real! My new plan is just to add in real carnations to the bridesmaids bouquets. I’m not sure how that will look, but it’s what I’m thinking.

So, how was your week?

On Aging Well

It seems there are 2 different school of thought on aging--go gracefully or fight it. 

Is that right? Is there another option?

Maybe let it overtake you when your back is turned? Ha!

In any case, I feel like I'm going to be one who tries to grow old gracefully.

NOT that I'm old, mind you.

I'm only 40, sheesh!

(My kids think I'm old.)

I just saw an ad the other day for a product supposedly proven to remove laugh lines.

Why would you want to?! 

Why would you erase the physical evidence of smiles and laughing, even if you could?

Would you truly rather present yourself as a blank slate? 

If you are the "fight it" person, tell me your point of view! I think I must be missing something.

In any case, flowers seem to have 2 categories as well: those that just drop, brown, and fizzle, and those that fade beautifully--or at least retain interest after flowering with pretty seedpods, interesting branches or bark, or beautiful foliage. 

Let me show you! (Flowers, not people.)

This first group is flowers that retain their beauty as they fade--many of them even changing colors!

#1: Lily-flowering Tulip 'Mariette'

Start off bright lipstick pink (above) and fade to a lovely white and pale pink (below.)

#2: Peony 'Coral Charm'

This one amazed me this spring, because I didn't expect it!

Beautiful coral pink to begin with (above), fading to this lemon yellow gem below!

#3: Peony 'Do Tell'

Striking pale pink with deeper pink stamens in the middle (above), fading to white with whisper pink stamens--almost looking like a daffodil by the end (below). Love it!

#4: Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Start off a rusty orange-red (above), then over time fade to a beautiful dusty pink (below).

There are other examples, but I'll stop there for now. 

For the next round, I'll just show you a couple--flowers that have wonderful seed pods.

#1: Grape hyacinths

Here they are in flower, and the pale green item in the arrangement below is the stem with seed pods on it. I love it!

#2: Poppies

These Shirley poppies are gorgeous, but only last a day or two, even when left on the plant.

However, their whimsical little seed pods will make great additions to bouquets.

Here are some poppy seed pods dried--I like that look as well.

For fresh cut flower arrangements, though, I prefer the green ones.

Since I struggled a bit getting my poppies to grow from seed this year, my plan is to let them blossom, produce their seed pods, and reseed themselves. I may help out a bit, to get as many as possible in the same row where I planted them! 

I will probably not be able to resist cutting a few of the seedpods, however.

* * * * *

What flowers do you know of that age well?