Important dates:
March 1, 2026: Monthly giveaway winner drawing.
April 25th, 2026: Third Annual Earth Day Celebration at Loving Farm! Mark your calendars. We will be having a day filled with fun and music, food and makers!
May 17th: The Wildwood Faire at Talon Winery and Vineyards in Lexington, Kentucky. We will be there hosting flower crown workshops.
Dear Flowerers,
The most positive news of the week was that Perriee knows how to jump a car battery (we have an amazing portable charger) and was able to get to the Organic Association of Kentucky annual conference. Even though we had started the car midweek as we went down the driveway to check on whether we could get the car out or not, it was not quite enough to keep her charged. Our first trip out on Thursday had us in the Ken’s parking lot with a non-starter. Ken’s is our local grocery store and I wanted to pick up ingredients to make some Valentine’s Day Turtles. I am making the caramel to go in them, that is a fact. Do you want some? Haven’t decided on a price point yet, but we will be making them for pickup for the holiday.
We had already stopped at the NRCS-USDA office to ask about some things, one of which is getting our farm boundary adjusted (its a long story, I will be sure to fill ya’ll in on sometime for sure). After that we went to the library to return my book club book (meets on the 7th!) and pick up some movies to toss in the DVD player while Perriee was away for 2 days. That third stop at the grocery store was just too much in this cold weather. Thankfully someone parked directly across from us had cables in his truck and kindly helped get us jumped to get home. When we rolled over to Yoder’s for nuts and butter (for the turtles) Perriee stayed in the car to keep it running to not risk another battery drain before getting home.
We were both planning on going to the conference but with the super low temps and faucets dripping in the Flower Studio and the house, I chose to stay back to take care of things while she was away. It is one thing when it is just cold, but these single digit nights with days in the teens are a little much to ask someone else to manage. I occupied myself with drafting this post, making a wreath and a dried bouquet, and I hung a suet cake from a tree to feed the birds. There were also oatmeal cookies baked to warm the house.
Perriee called me immediately after chatting with the Johnny’s rep from the conference (it is a popular seed company if you are not familiar) about our lisianthus journey. Some or the seedlings have disappeared this week and I am getting nervous. She suggested bottom watering and putting back on the heat-mat at 60-65 degrees. The room they are in is holding at 50. I went right down to get the heat-mat adjusted and threw them back the mat on after a 15-20 minute soak. I can see third leaves on several of them and can also see the top of the soil getting crusty which I find hard to recover from. We can always try again next year right? It is a glasses off-flashlight on scenario every morning (and afternoon, because I am obsessed) when I count them all. We consider ourselves both good and not so good when it comes to seed starting (and honestly at all of farming, if I am being honest). I did pop the humidity dome on it at night, as we do in the evenings to all of the seedlings to prevent them from being eaten by mice. See? We are learning!
The ranunculus are getting along. It is another moisture mystery, not being able to tell if they are too wet or dry with a few sort of shriveling. Root rot? Dry? Frostbite from last week? You would think it would be so freaking simple to be able to tell if it is one or the other but I promise it is tricky sometimes! Two of the four pots are still looking ok. I have dreams of an abundance of sweet peas since they look so amazing in these buckets, which still appear to be the proper moisture level. The Goldilocks of the hour, for sure. The second bucket has new shoots popping out of the soil and the first bucket has tons (haven’t counted, can you believe it?). I don’t know. Something about their progression feels promising. The snapdragons can be up-potted for certain, and we could probably thin out the pennyroyal into a plug tray as well. The blue sea holly is putting on leaves and seems to be coasting pretty well.
If we make it through this year as farmers, next January we are going to have a better plan to get through that first month of the year. It is not just slow financially, but the appeal of the slow days passes quickly after the big rush of the December holidays. I suppose I could be ripping wallpaper down in the hallway, or trying to paint a wall in the parlor but the hallway is freezing at the moment (quite literally) and we are sleeping in the parlor until the weather warms a bit. I cannot tell you how badly we want to get a sauna installed, as it would be a nice way to generate a little cash flow and heal the mind and body in tandem. Just repeating my wish over again to help push it into reality a little further.
Pride update:
The cats and ducks have handled this crazy weather with amazing grace. We are down to 1 egg a day and to be honest, we are overwhelmed with gratitude for that. Even with half of the people and cat house blocked off to conserve heat, the number of hissy encounters between Oscar and Tux are surprisingly low.
Oscar:
He gives care daily
A male nurse like Greg Focker
Heals you with his purrs
Loving Farm 