What's New for 2022
February 26, 2022
Lots of new things are happening in this season of 2022…
NEW FARM DREAMS COMING TRUE
We’ve purchased our own property and will be starting a brand new, bigger flower farm this Spring! The property is 10 acres and we have a planned production for the flower farm to max out at four acres. Comparatively, we currently grow on just under one acre at our farm on Kin Loch Farmstead’s property. Our new flower farm will be a substantial increase in cut flower production and we are so excited to have extra space to grow into!
BIODYNAMIC PLANTING CALENDAR
I’ve recently become intrigued by the Biodynamic approach, mostly used in agriculture, that suggests when to sow, plant, maintain and harvest different types of plants based on the movement of the Moon and other cosmological events. I’m working off of Maria Thun’s Biodynamic Almanac for 2022 (North American Version). I’ll also try my best to find time during this busy year to make the Biodynamic 500 preparation, which entails stuffing cow horns with fresh manure and burying them in the field over winter. The humus-y creation is then dug up and added to the field in the Spring, which inoculates the place with indigenous microbes. I admit it sounds wacky, but I can’t wait to try it out! I attribute this new fascination with biodynamics to Jennie Love of Love n’ Fresh Flowers in Philadelphia. She is the best regenerative flower farming mentor ever! Listen to her podcast episode about biodynamics here. It’s titled “Teasing Apart the Woo-Woo…” and was released in Feb 2022.
REGENERATIVE FLOWER FARMERS NETWORK
I’ve joined an online community of flower farmers that are dedicated to creating healthier land and farming operations through regenerative practices. Regenerative farming is a topic I’ve been fixated on for the past few years. Jennie Love of Love n’ Fresh Flowers in Philadelphia is the founder of the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network (RFFN). Not only is she herself curious and super knowledgeable about everything flower farming… she is also encouraging, honest and so incredibly helpful. I joined her Regenerative Flower Farming Cohort back in January, which is a small group of 20-30 of us that meet once per month virtually to learn in-depth processes from Jennie and share our own experiences with each other. I’m learning so much and it’s refreshing to have a space to chat with people outside of Facebook Groups… a platform I no longer use, good riddance!
BIOLOGICAL FERMENTATION / IMO / KOREAN NATURAL FARMING
In conjunction with other regenerative farming practices, I am going full hog on creating my own Indigenous Microoganism (IMO) ferments to be used as mineral amendments and fertilizers throughout the farm year. Husband Jesse is more interested in fermenting things than I am (kombucha, kimchi & vinegar wizard), so he’s going to help create different batches of fermented plant juice and vinegar extracts based on JADAM/Korean Natural Farming practices. Our biological fermentation bible is The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments: Using Locally Sourced Materials to Make Mineral and Biological Extracts and Ferments by Nigel Palmer. A few days ago, I was lucky enough to join a Live Zoom chat with Nigel on RFFN… he actually answered some of MY questions and it felt how I imagine meeting Santa Claus on Christmas Eve would feel like. I plan on coming up with a whole experimental regime of different extracts and ferments this year, and will find time to blog about it and share my findings once the season has concluded.
MEASURING BRIX
Another farming tool, more commonly used in agriculture to measure nutrient density of food, is the refractometer. This little handheld device measures the sugar content in the sap of any plant material and offers a measurement, known as “Brix,” that is an indicator of plant health. I plan on becoming familiar with the Brix in my field and how Brix levels change based on the biological amendments we add. It’s like one huge science experiment and I feel like I finally have a way to understand how healthy (or not) my crops are.
WORM FARM
It’s come to my attention that vermicastings (worm turds) are the best amendment / plant pick-me-up you can possibly add to the farm or garden. Vermicastings help seeds germinate and deliver nutrients that are readily available for plants to intake — no complex microbial breakdowns needed because the worms have already done that job. So, in order to spray my field and my seedlings with homemade vermiliquid (castings soaked in rainwater like a tea), I gotta have my own worm farm. The store-bought castings are no good; they need to be fresh. So, I’ve purchased a Worm Cafe (indoor worm composter) and fresh worms from a fellow RFFN Member, Matt Arthur of Booneslick Heritage Farm who will be shipping red wigglers to me very soon. Here’s to not killing my new friends!
PICK-UP ONLY RETAIL FLORAL
I’m giving myself a break and will not be offering delivery for retail floral arrangements in 2022. In the future, I may very well hire a delivery person, but for now, retail floral is not my focus. Weddings, workshops, and selling wholesale flowers to florists are my main revenue focus. For people who want to order a one-off flower arrangement in 2022, they still can, but it must be picked up.
HOLDING OFF ON TUBER AND PLANT SALES
Starting a new farm is going to be a huge undertaking this Spring. Where I normally would carve out time and space in May for my Perennial Pollinator Planting Kits, I am going to hold off on doing that sale this year. As for dahlia tubers, I will be selling a limited quantity of very limited varieties in a few weeks. Our new farm will have a huge dahlia plot, and in order to plant it, I am holding onto most of my tubers this year. The goal is to be able to offer a large, exciting collection of our organically-grown dahlia tubers in future years!
MORE WEDDINGS
Somehow, on top of starting a new farm, we’ll be doing more weddings than we ever have this year. I said no to every single wedding request that came through for mid-late May, knowing we will need all the time we can get to work on prepping and planting the new farm. Our wedding season is concentrated from June thru mid-October. Godspeed!
This list has made me tired so I’m going to leave it for now… lol
I’m looking forward to creating more beautiful, healthy flower fields this year, and I simply cannot wait to share it with you.
peace, love, plant magic,
Fran Parrish