Good morning friends, I start this monthly musings wondering what on earth I did in May. I know that it was so busy that I barely got a second to lift my head, this is a good reset to see what I actually accomplished.
We started the month taking part in a wedding showcase at Port Gamble Weddings and events. I created some wedding florals to show how beautiful seasonal locally grown flowers are. We met with brides and their families and talked about their wedding dreams.
Spring Bouquet for the Port Gamble wedding showcase
May is the month when you prepare everything for planting. The heat loving annuals are outside being harden off ready to go in the ground, the annuals that can withstand some cold are already in the field. The dahlia field is being prepared and ready to go and final work on the dahlia field plan is being worked on.
Not only was I juggling all of that, but also preparing for our annual Spring Market and Tea that I host with Kelly Welk from Ciderpress Lane We were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather. The Spring Tea was set up under the shade of the apple trees on our farm. It was truly the loveliest of times. In this world where we all seem so frazzled from racing from one thing to another attendees were able to sit and relax and enjoy Yorkshire Tea and Scones, chat with their friends and enjoy a restful moment with no agenda. The Spring Market was also a huge success with so many people from our community stopping by to stock up on flowers and vegetables for thier garden.
Spring Tea on the Farm with Ciderpress Lane
Photography by Jess Vallance
Once the Spring Market & Tea was packed away it was all hands on deck to get the dahlia field planted. I used to worry about not getting everything into the ground by the end of April but I have now learnt that you can only do so much with the hours that you are given. This year we are planting less dahlia tubers as I have reduced down to one field for both my annual flowers and dahlias, I now have space for about 1,800 dahlia tubers. My wonderful crew and I managed to have it planted in two days. It felt so good to get that checked off the list. I will be perfectly honest with you I really struggled with the field plan this year. I left it too close to the spring market to work on it and that gave me a few headaches. The other thing that I struggle with is putting it together on a spreadsheet which I have done over the past couple of years. I am a very visual person so I have made the decision that I am going to go back to the way I used to do it. Big sheets of paper on the floor or wall and writing and putting photos of the dahlias on that sheet. One thing I have learnt on this journey, it is OK to say something is not working for you and then making the necessary changes that will work for you.
My dahlia crew! Shannon, Penny and Syd….oh how I love them!
With some warm weather the sweet peas started to take off. They are looking so good and I know in the next couple of weeks I am going to start to have flowers - in fact I picked one rouge flower from there yesterday - a definite over achiever but I have popped it in a bud vase next to my bed as a reminder that there will be so many more of these beautiful flowers to come.
Sweet Peas starting to take off.
All the annuals are now in the field and I feel like life will become more of a steady rhythm rather than a frantic dash. Well, that is the plan but now I have said it out loud it will probably put an end to that!
One last very exciting thing to tell you about. A few years ago a magazine was launched called “In Her Garden”. I had this dream that I would like to write an article for the magazine. I wrote down that thought but never acted on it, I just left it simmering on the back burner. My dear friend Jess Vallance who does a lot of the photography for me, encouraged me to submit an article. With her cheering me on and the positive feed back I have received from you from my Monthly Musings email I decided to submit an article to the magazine earlier this year. To my great excitement they accepted the article and it is now being featured in the Summer publication of “In Her Garden”. Not only did they accept the article but they have featured me and Charlie my dog on the front cover. This makes me so very, very proud. If you are interested in purchasing this magazine it is in most major stores that you can purchase magazines or on-line through their publisher Stampington - thank you for reading my Musings and giving me the courage to take it one step further.
Image from Stampington
That’s it for now. Enjoy June, when everything is just starting to bloom and holds so much promise.