The Unexpected

It’s so funny how blogs can change depending on the day you write them.

Last weekend so many good things happened. I definitely held my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. I thought: “This joy is too good to be true. This isn’t supposed to happen to me…”

I got myself to such a point of ‘preparation frustration’, that I got the courage to do something I was terrified of doing before: approaching a florist. And this was THE florist I wanted to approach the most: Ellen Frost of Local Color Flowers in Baltimore. (If you don’t know who she is you can check out her website locoflo.com or the content she’s put out with The Gardener’s Workshop). But in a nutshell, she’s dedicated to locally grown flowers. And if I had to work with anyone, I wanted to work with her.

I went down to one of her open shop days on Saturday and took some of the blooms from my home garden. It was a very informal meeting and I was glad it was that way. I got to do what any other customer did: hang out and chat– not to mention walk around and admire the shop. I also visited the farmer’s market down the street which was fantastic.

The next day I got an amazing surprise when Ellen posted on her facebook page about my flowers. She had kept them herself to verify the quality and arranged them. When I first glanced at the picture I said to myself: those kinda look like my flowers… Then I realized they were mine! She mentioned me and my farm by name… All I could think was: how is it that this joy is mine??

I’m just happy to have made that connection. I can’t resist a flowery chin-wag.

On the other hand: Guys!!! It’s July!!! We’ve all (I believe in your solidarity) been waiting for this!!! This is the week I predicted my first large harvest. When I stopped by the farm early in the week I was hopeful that it would be true. The buds are there and it is certainly possible for them to open up soon. The shade may push them back a few days but I don’t mind. The time is nigh! (I’ll email those of you who placed orders if there’s any change in schedule).

…

Update later in the week:

One of my favorite quotes can be applied to so many situations: “Oh, well, I’m up and down, and all around.”

It’s Friday and some good and bad has taken place since I last wrote. I was able to go to another of Ellen’s open shop days and take more flowers down. I enjoyed it quite a lot. I met another shop worker, Jess, who also has a small farm of her own: Bloomhouse. We talked about the things we’re doing and it’s always so good to hear about the different choices farmers are making.

Thursday when I went to the farm I got a surprise. I didn’t have to worry about the shade! ... Because bugs were gonna take them out! I arrived to see something I had seen not 1 day before this season. Many of the sunflower buds on this week’s harvest were covered in bugs. They were black bugs and I tried to look up what they were. I’m not 100% sure but they seem to be some type of beetle or weevil. Either way, as soon as a bud cracked – in they went. And they camped outside the unopened ones like customers waiting for a store to open. Unlike bugs that might attack other parts of the plant, their damage will ruin the blossom itself.

So decisions, decisions…Do I wait it out and hope a predator comes? Do I wait and see if their life cycle will end and the other harvests will be fine? Do I attempt to treat it? The truth is that even if I were to attempt to use some kind of application on them now I couldn’t save the flowers they were already on… Ba, ba, ba-da-ba-da… Sorry, I got distracted. A lot of questions arise.

In any case, it made me ask myself what caused the infestation? Was it just inevitable? Well, I read that pests tend to target weak plants. I knew that first week of sunflowers was stressed because of lack of water, and I learned that that makes the sugars concentrated and easier for the bugs to nom, nom, nom. So I am pretty convinced that that made them a prime target. Would remedying the water situation fix it or would it be too late? Well, I adjusted some things in that particular bed – so we’ll see…

Back to the bright side. I took the online course Preparing to Sell to Florists on thegardenersworkshop.com. It totally equipped me to take my business in that direction if I wanted to. It had so many helpful insights into little things that could easily be overlooked in approaching a florist. Did I mention that it was by Ellen Frost? The Ellen Frost I met earlier? lol

All in all, even with the disappointments of this week, I am glad that this year is teaching me so much about what can go wrong. And it’s so much better to manage it on this scale. I can’t complain, because I’m happy even for that - truly.

Anyway, that’s all for now! Hope you guys are well! See you next week.

Toodles!

Kerri.

(Quote was taken from The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn Saks)