As 2024 comes to a close, Perriee and I wanted to send a special note of thanks for everything this year. Without support of folks like you all, we would not be where we are today. As a special gesture of gratitude we will be having a raffle for our email subscribers. Perriee and I want to send a random supporter a dried flower bouquet as a token of appreciation for keeping in touch. Maybe monthly? Stay tuned! You might be the next recipient. We will email you directly to let you know if you win!

Here is a short list of some of our accomplishments:

The biggest change has been having BOTH of us working on the farm full time as of June. Perriee has been basically holding it all down solo since 2022. I quit my job in healthcare as an electronic medial records analyst to take the leap. It was a scary move but now when I say, “I am living the dream” at work, I am not being sarcastic anymore!

With that time opened up, I was able to have time to work on the website we have had for a few years, focusing on updating it with upcoming events, and now our subscriber list.

The first annual Earth Day celebration brought visitors from near and far who joined us on a nature walk through our trails.

One, Flower Farming 101 class brought an amazing group from Cincinnati who learned a little of what we do here, and went home with a beautiful arrangement of early summer flowers. The kids who came made the day! It is always fascinating to see nature through their eyes.

This was our last year renting the warehouse out for tobacco. After the last batch was carried away, we were left to clean and clean and clean up the floor. A few hundred pounds of leftover tobacco is nestled around the farm as a reminder that we never want to do that again.

New friends helped us cut down trees along the warehouse and build a stage to host musical acts.

We hosted Highly Likely in June and Hogtown in November in the Nepton Warehouse. Two AMAZING musical acts that you will get a chance to experience again here at the farm in 2025.

Our flowers were available at the Kentucky Flower Market in Frankfort for the first time, along side a couple dozen other amazing local flower farms’ beautiful blooms. We learned so much about harvest stage of certain flowers and grew many new-to-us varieties. The best part was surrounding ourselves with a community of growers who are there to support us in our journey.

Max the cat started going outside with his sister Gray this year after two years of being in the house since he broke his arm. Although I worry everytime they go outside, his quality of life has improved dramatically since his new routine as an indoor-outdoor cat started. Sometimes he goes outside just to turn around and come right back in.

We had the opportunity to design florals for the South Fork Beerfest Farm to Table event at Turtleback Ridge Brewery.

Although it is not perfect, we listed the Flower Studio bedroom on Airbnb this year and hosted two guests. It was a goal we set for ourselves which we will call “reached”.

We are the recipients of two grants this year! The Conservation Stewardship Program grant through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation (NRCS) office will provide funds over the next five years to plant and maintain a half acre pollinator patch as well as money to create a water-catchment system on the Flower Studio. The Kentucky State University Small Scale Farm Grant approved us for a solar fan for our new drying room we are creating as well as a heating and cooling system for the Flower Studio which will help keep our products fresh in the heat of summer and the dead of winter.

We have joined the Chronolog program, which will help track the progression of the pollinator patch with a photo station that we have received to install for the public to help us upload photos of. The organization hosts our spot online to view a time-lapse of it! Isn’t that so cool??

This is the first year we harvested and ate our sunchokes out of the field, which are freaking delicious! Move over mashed potatoes. There is a new starch in town.

The inspiration for our logo has been painted and hung on the warehouse out front! This was here when we moved in, waiting for our vision to come to life.

Baby, Mamma and Mia were welcomed to the farm! These three ladies are full of spunk and we are so happy to have them here.

Last but not least, we have made an effort to spend more time with the people we love. We have sat on the porch with our dear neighbors on beautiful days, hiked trails with amazing friends, and weeded gardens at others homes together. We love our community and will be making that a top priority for the coming year.

Thank you again! Leave a comment if there is anything in particular you would like to learn more about this coming year. Perriee and I very much look forward to bringing you along in 2025.