Hi everyone,

It has been a snowy week here on the farm and Perriee and I have been working daily to keep all of the kitties and ducks comfy in spite of the cold weather. With the help of some neighbors we were able to get our little Honda out the other day just in time to get some cat food reinforcements. FedEx has not been able to come up the drive and are not taking special requests at this time to drop off where we can reach the packages (we tried). Mr. Mittens is 15 years old and he is in that stage of life where he needs a different option at each meal to keep it interesting. As much as the yellow box store gets my nerves rattled as a corporate giant (not the people who work in the store, they are amazing), we were happy to shop there this week and get him a variety pack he needed to get his belly full.

The ducks have been getting extra treats and miss Dayz has spent a couple of nights in the trailer to keep warm as she continues her recovery from being an only duck with Howard. She is thriving now and we want to keep her momentum going. We watch for wet feathers and shivering to see if she needs to go in and she has been good for the last 2 days, hanging with the flock, snacking and sipping all day, tail up!

Otherwise, we have just been working on little projects around here keeping ourselves busy. Here is a little rundown of what we have done:

1. We worked on our list of annuals that we intend to plant this season. There is officially a plan to plant a large (to us) amount of zinnias, celosia, statice, marigolds and aromatic basil. Oh yea, and we are committing to planting 50 sunflowers a week through the season. You read it here first folks.

The seeds are set aside and ready to rock!

Please don’t feel bad for us for limiting our plantings to those 6 flower types. I am sure we will break our rule and add some more fun things in the mix.

2. We applied for another grant this week. Some MASC grant from the USDA. It was a super last minute decision and we think we are approved for something. Anyone else?

3. Perriee signed us up for farm tours through the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Having people filter through here to check out our processes is top of our list of things we enjoy doing. It takes me back to my old “Farmer Marietta” days at Sunrock Farm when I worked there for a season back in the early 2010s, giving school kids farm tours and mucking goat pens.

4. The Flower Studio facelift continues. I painted the unfinished wall behind the stove, we cut a nice piece of leftover flooring for under the kitchen sink, and we finally painted over this spot in the hallway that we did not have enough red-color to finish. Its all white and bright now. Next up is a kitchen and hallway floor upgrade. We are debating ordering some plywood to cover it all and then install some tongue and groove flooring we bought many years ago for a cabin we were building.

5. The seed starting room has been tidied up and Perriee tore the carpet out of it. Next steps are going to be moving 4 painted pallets out of there that have been doubling as shelving. They are going to be transformed into benches for our deck…or something.

6. The Fruit and Vegetable conference was canceled but we still managed to fit in a free webinar about marketing from Jenny at Trademark Farmer. She is the big inspiration in us asking so many of you to receive our newsletters. Our hope is to make a more genuine connection with you all so that you feel comfortable with us in turn. If you ever choose to support our business, we want to give you a glimpse at how it impacts us as a token of appreciation.

7. At the suggestion of a friend, we made some pinecone bird feeders with peanut butter and birdseed. It was quite a hit with our wild feathered friends.

That on top of regular household chores and daily routines. It is such a blessing to have this opportunity to work full time on the farm in the wintertime. Neither of us take it for granted.