What I didn’t anticipate about flower farming…

Hi Lovelies,

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Pro-tip: Work smarter, not harder. Carrying around heavy buckets of water and flowers isn’t a good thing. I need to learn how to think ahead so I’m not needlessly overworking myself. Also, “Messy bun, and gettin’ stuff done.” LOL.

I hope everyone is well! Today, I thought I would tackle something that’s not necessarily directly related to the garden, but more so to the task that I’ve taken on. This was my first year growing a flower garden larger than my little ole’ backyard. With this, it was necessary that I adopted some larger scale farming techniques – something which I knew absolutely nothing about, as well as become closer to nature (much, much closer!). Alas, here are some of the most important things that I learned:

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Just one of the many new friends that I made in the garden. Pro-tip: I don’t ever suggest picking up random animals you find. I certainly refuse to, even if they are super cool turtles.

Beware of Animals – Okay, before you judge me – I know this sounds like it should be a no-brainer. You’re outside, of course there are going to be animals! However, I never knew there could be so many different things jumping out of the rows to scare the bejeebz out of me. I knew there would be spiders, bugs and other creepy crawlies; but I never expected to walk right up on a skunk just hanging out under the zinnias. Luckily, the skunk just looked at me unphased like, “Hey dude, what’s up?” But you can bet, that I took off running in the other direction. I’ve got plenty of stories just like this one, and I’m sure the neighbors looking out their windows just say, “Looks like she’s over there freaking out again.” and continue sipping their morning coffee. I still tend to run from bumble bees (I got one stuck in my hair and couldn’t get it out – it was really traumatic – please don’t make me talk about it), and I’ve definitely learned the hard way not to ever wear neon colors out into the field. As it turns out, hummingbirds really love neons and will go to great lengths to see if they are a viable source of nectar. I’ll never forget being chased about 50 yards as one viciously (seemingly) followed me and tried to feed from my neon yellow headband.

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Pro-tip: Don’t freak out if your arrangements don’t look like anyone else’s. Look at it as a chance to express yourself! Think outside of the box, and don’t be afraid to do things that you’ve never seen before. What would the world be like if everyone was the same? It would be lame, for real.

Beware the Fairy Tale – If you search online for flower farms, you’ll quickly see a lot of wonderful images of women with armloads of flowers and perfect hair – wearing long sleeve shirts of all things. The images are so lovely that it’s extremely easy to get caught in this fairy tale. However, if you IMG_20150911_165307live where I do, when the summer heat can hit 110F and the humidity makes you feel like you’ve got five or six elephants sitting on your chest – this just isn’t a real thing. Of course it’s unrealistic to think that flower farming is filled with glamour – there’s definitely a huge amount of hard work – but I literally can’t go out into the field for less than five minutes without coming back into the house looking like some kind of wet, sweaty professional wrestler. The sad part is, I’m not even kidding. Maybe I’ll have a chance to take a bunch of pictures that make me feel like garden nymph in the fall…if the frost doesn’t hit first. And that thought leads to my next point…

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Pro-tip: Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses – literally and figuratively.

Beware of Misfortune – This rule applies more to life than flower farming specifically. It’s Murphy’s Law. Though I had planned and planned for this season, almost everything that I planned went wrong and made me feel like a complete failure. More often than not, it feels like the universe is there fighting back every step of the way. I’ve experienced a lot this season – passing of family, stolen seed trays, stolen seedlings, someone cutting entire rows of flowers down with a lawnmower, house flooding, vandalism – seriously. And the year before, I couldn’t even go into my own plot at the community garden because someone was using it as a restroom (I kid you not.) I’ve had many mental breakdowns through this process, but these failures have ultimately made me stronger and made me want to push forward even more!

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Pro-tip: Don’t be afraid to reach out to people who are passionate about the same things as you are. Not everyone will understand why you want to just grow flowers all the time – but the ones who do understand, are awesome allies to have.

Overall, I think I managed to have a pretty good growing year. Now that the weather has cooled and things have mostly ended their cycles, I’m extremely eager to start over again next year. Always trying to improve, always learning something new. Have a great day, much love!

15 thoughts on “What I didn’t anticipate about flower farming…

  1. Great post. So true. Especially good point about beware the fairytale. Everyone gets so caught up in putting these fabulous images out there and then you – well me – thinks I’m doing it all wrong because my life doesn’t look like everyone else’s. Once u decided to embrace the journey, things got so much easier. It’s why I try to blog about the mistakes and even downright disasters as well.

    1. Definitely agree. With all the social media out there these days, it’s easy to believe something that may not necessarily be as it appears. Having realistic expectations was a big area of growth for me this year 🙂

  2. I loved this post. I can so relate. Your flowers are beautiful. Sometimes I think that mistakes are just meant to be because the results are much nicer than things that are planned. That turtle is too cute.
    Sheila

  3. Thanks for the great post. I, too, had many failures this year, learning about gardening in a totally different climate. Gardening in Texas is NOT the same as in Wisconsin. I could have given up, but that’s just not in a gardener’s spirit, I don’t think. We’ll always live to fight another day! And (mostly) enjoy the journey!

    1. Thanks so much! I bet that a move to Texas does make a huge difference! Don’t worry though, I think we all have our fair share of growing failures! LOL. 🙂 I’m sure you’ll master your new location in no time!

  4. Well said. Farming is a lot of work. Especially if you do it organically, holistically or sustainably. A tractor is great (I have one), but it takes diesel fuel (and spews lots of NO2). I prefer a good garden spade, a wheel hoe and a bit of sweat.

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