2023 Year In Review

January 02, 2024 1 Comment

As we dive into the New Year, it's essential to take a moment to reflect on the past year's events before forging ahead. While it's tempting to focus solely on the future, looking back can help us appreciate our accomplishments and set meaningful intentions for what lies ahead.

In January of the previous year, we decided to take a break from our constant growing and focused on tending to seedlings only. We had some infrastructure projects to wrap up, and there was a new addition on the way – a baby! Amidst all this, I found some time to write and create resources on seed starting and planning. If you're interested, you can find the guide links here:

Planning A Summer Cut Flower Garden From Seed Guide

Seed Starting Station Guide 

Container Sizing Guide Guide

During this time, my friend Hailey and I made significant progress with the siding inside our soon-to-be shop, and it started to feel cozy and inviting. It's astonishing how stick drawings on paper can transform into reality after years of hard work. Here's a peek of us rockin' out:

Moving into February, we continued to sow seeds and offered our first round of Seed Kits, designed to provide everything you need to grow your own summer cut flower garden. These kits included soil, seeds, trays, and video instructions with Mary and me. They were a tremendous success, and we're currently working on improving them. I especially enjoyed hearing stories about how others got started growing flowers and set up their roadside cut flower stands. We plan to launch them again this February.

March marked the flourishing of early spring bulb gardens and the shipment of our dahlia tubers across the nation. Spring is always one of our busiest seasons, and the excitement was palpable as we envisioned the beauty that lay ahead. This excitement reached its peak when, on the last day of shipping, my water broke! Unlike my previous hospital births, this time, we opted for a Homebirth, which turned out to be a wonderful experience. You can watch a video about it here:

As April arrived, temperatures spiked early, bringing an abundance of early bulb crops. To keep up with the harvesting demands, we often found ourselves processing crops at night and on weekends with baby AJ in tow.

April also welcomed the first flush of ranunculus and an array of early spring blooms. Our shop received some much-needed TLC, and we were gearing up for our busiest holiday of the year – Mother's Day.

June brought early season events and some of the most gorgeous peonies we've ever seen. We were ecstatic in our new workspace, which finally felt like a real studio, a far cry from my living room, an old barn, or a shed.

The summer months were a whirlwind of blooms, weeding, and routine crop checks. We also made an effort to install a new pollinator hedge at the front of the farm.August delivered a bumper crop of lisianthus, but it also became evident that our field dahlias were not going to make it due to the summer rains that had rotted the tubers.

Fortunately, we had tucked other dahlia tubers into a tunnel, and they thrived, providing us with the dahlias we needed for events. We quickly replanted other crops that had been affected by the rain.

Despite the setback with our field dahlias, September was a particularly busy month. We began making small harvests from our perennials, and in October, we received bulbs and held our annual sale, shipping to gardeners across the nation.

November brought the addition of two new crops, calla and lilies, timely replacements for our failed mum crop due to the flooding. We were thrilled with the results and will include them in this year's growing plan as well.

In the first half of November, we dedicated our time to digging, dividing, and moving the dahlia crop into storage after the Fall Dahlia Sale. The latter part of the month was spent carving pumpkins for Thanksgiving and hosting workshops, which were an absolute blast. I can't wait to announce our spring lineup soon. Make sure to sign up for our newsletter to get first dibs!

December kicked off with Winter Workshops and a flurry of holiday decorations. As the month came to an end, we settled into winter growing with no time off in sight.

Over the past four years, we've poured our hearts and souls into building this farm, and it's astonishing to see how far we've come, despite most days feeling like we have so far to go. Initially considered a "negative environment" for pollinators and wildlife, the farm has transformed into a thriving ecosystem that benefits not only pollinators and wildlife but also our community.

As we step into the new year, I'm navigating the next chapter with a sense of realism and intention, while staying true to my north star. Behind the scenes, I continue to work on improving systems and my personal growth. The experiences of 2023 taught me that I have a passion for workshops and teaching, which I plan to explore further. A significant aspect of what we do here on the farm, and what holds great importance in my life, is genuine connection. Rooted Flowers will continue to build on fostering meaningful connections. Here's a little video of designs we cultivated with flowers and foliages grown 100% on the farm.

 I would love to hear about your year and what exciting plans you have for 2024. Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

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