We got a lot accomplished Memorial Day weekend, we even got to take a road trip.  We have pretty much planted all rows down in the field at my parents. I need to order more seeds because I have no more zinnias or sunflowers. I’m trying China Asters this year despite all the bad things I keep reading about leaf hoppers and yellow aster disease.  The ornamental and broom corn is looking good, just today Mark under sowed the corn with buckwheat. The pumpkin seedlings have finally made their much anticipated debut. I’m super excited about growing pink pumpkins (yes pink!) and white pumpkins this year. I think the pink pumpkins will be a big hit at the market.  I’ve had mixed success with pumpkins in the past so I’m going baby these guys.
    Using the field at my parents only really became possible with the slightly unexpected purchase of the tractor and tiller. I don’t feel like I have had a chance to plan as I would’ve liked with this new space. The larger space has brought about some challenges. The first being water. Lugging a 100 foot hose around isn’t the ideal water situation, even if the kids want to help. We have been brainstorming about how to instal drip irrigation and get water to the flowers more effectively. Another work in progress is the soil itself..  The quality of the soil varies within each individual bed. We have clay soil with shale and richer darker dirt closer to where the old outhouse use to be.  I grow using organic principals so we are enriching the soil naturally with green manure and cover cropping. While not a quick fix it’s a great way to build up your soil.
    On Memorial Day we headed into the mountains of West Virginia to the scenic railroad in Cass. Cass was a logging town and the trains were built specifically for bringing logs down from the top of rugged mountains. I’m a native to West Virginia and I have a sweet spot for those hills. It was like stepping back in time riding the train up the mountain. The view was amazing from the top.  The kids all had a blast. They even had the patience to sit thru the short education film about the town’s history. We ate at the country store and all the kids got to pick something out from the gift shop. They are all different and it was interesting to see what each one picked out.  It was a fun day and a much needed get away.

Today was very exciting for me! We got to really use the recently purchased tractor and rototiller. Since I have limited garden space we are expanding and adding rows in the field beside my parent's house.  I am a firm believer that we create our own reality and that everything that manifests in the physical world starts out as an idea in our mind.  I have had a picture in my mind's eye for years now of rows of flowers in my parent's field.  Today that vision finally became a reality.  Mark and his son Mason did the tractor work while me and my daughter Camden planted 16 varieties of dahlia tubers. I don't think Mason knew what to think at first about all the flowers but once he knew there was a tractor involved I don't think it mattered. 

My boy, Gabe worked on math homework with Grandma and played  baseball. He doesn't understand why he can't drive the tractor (his feet don't even reach the pedals).

Mark in action.  Yes- I think his tractor is sexy

Mason getting it done.  I have to say that Mason is the hardest working teenager I have ever seen!

Camden posing for the camera behind the flowering onions.

Where do I start? It has been more of a journey and a process then something that happened in one singular moment.  The journey begin when I was living in an apartment in the city recently divorced taking care of two kids. My mom gave me a book on organic gardening and I started day dreaming of living on a farm and growing my own food. I started vegetable seeds inside and planted them in the flower beds up front.  I didn’t get to see them grow up because another opportunity had arose. A house for rent in the country, not just a house but a yard and garden space. An old farm house on a beef cattle farm that was right beside my parents house, where I had grown up. I felt it was a wonderful place to raise my children. I moved in at the beginning of summer and started working in the garden. The first summer I felt like I did nothing but pick rocks out of the garden.  At the end of summer I visited the Harvest Heritage Festival in Charlottesville and attended a presentation by Lisa Ziegler from The Gardener’s Workshop.  She was talking about soil blocks and fall planting. I was fascinated by the idea of planting in the fall with the plants not just surviving the winter but actually coming out stronger.  The day after the festival I double dug a bed in the garden and planted seeds. Love in the Mist, Calendula, Corn Cockle, all tucked under a row cover, ready for the winter. I had seen vegetables as necessary and flowers as a luxury but I was starting to rethink that view. Especially when I learned that all most all flowers used in the US are actually from another country. Or how so many chemicals are used in the process of growing cut flowers when massed produced.  The small flower grower that was doing it organically was just as necessary. I spent the winter pouring over Lynn Byczynski’s book The Flower Farmer. A lot of that winter was spent learning every bit of information I could about cut flowers.  I also got soil blockers and started seeds indoors under florescent lights. When the flowers came up strong the next spring I was hooked. I still have Love in the Mist in my garden from planting them that one time, they have continued on with all their volunteer seedlings. It is one of my favorite flowers with its airy quality, heirloom appeal and because it was around from the beginning.
    Last year was the start of the Botetourt Farmer’s Market, what better time for me to start selling my flowers. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. No more time for day dreaming about what I wanted, it was time to make it happen.  I would fluctuate between feeling good with what was getting accomplished in the garden to freaking out that I wouldn’t get everything done in time. I worried that there wouldn’t be enough flowers or that no one would want them.  But all the worry and the work paid off, the flower’s beauty spoke for themselves. I would get repeat customers- they were coming back for more flowers.  I had one lady tell me that the flowers were the bright spot of her week.  It was awesome! I felt good about things at the end of the season and was already thinking about the next year. Last fall I planted around 500 plants down at my parents - my garden space was overflowing and I was wanting more, more, more flowers. So here we are at the beginning of another growing season and I have a feeling its going to be even better then the last.