Farmer Philosopher

Discouragement is an ugly feeling. I try to avoid it. I’m pretty damn good at finding the silver lining in just about anything. But sometimes I get tired and cranky, and the proverbial clouds roll in. It happens almost every year in the long exhausting days of...
Sunday Stroll

Sunday Stroll

I had a lovely picnic lunch at the farm today with my brother Joe, his wife (my best friend) Rachel and their two adorable kids. It was fun to relax in the field a bit instead of working. And it was really such a treat to share all the flower bounty with them. As we...
Agrostemma {a new love}

Agrostemma {a new love}

June is a surprisingly sparse month for cut flowers. If it weren’t for the blousy beauty of peonies, June would be a very difficult month for flower farmers and designers dedicated to locally-grown. The flush of spring blooms like anemones, ranunculus, tulips...
Crazy Nigella

Crazy Nigella

I grow a lot of varieties of Nigella, or “love in the mist” as it’s commonly known. It’s easy to grow from seed, can be sown in the fall as we’re putting the field to bed, and blooms in the spring without much fuss. Some varieties I grow...
Only the Beginning

Only the Beginning

We’ve weathered our first heat wave. Summer surely is here. Even without a calendar for reference, I could have told you Memorial Day had come and gone. The face of the flower fields change significantly this time in the season. It’s almost instantaneous....
Making the Beds

Making the Beds

There’s an old farmer’s saying: “Make hay while the sun shines.” It never rings more true for me than in the warm days of April. While there’s no hay on my farm, there is a lot of work to get done while the sun shines. Spring rains often...