Saturday, November 9, 2019

Hello friends and family!

Here's a brief 2019 season in review! Jennifer had a Lyme disease diagnosis in late September and so - a hard time keeping up with the blog this season. She's just completed four weeks of antibiotics, and is feeling much better. Not 100% yet, but so. much. better than two months ago. We're all thankful for that!

We're also so very grateful for your support during our seventh(?!!) season, and hope you enjoyed the flowers, plants and food this year.

We'll be in touch early next year with updates,etc. Until then - best to your fall and winter holiday season. We have so much gratitude and love for you all. 


We love our crew, and a special shout out to Uncle Eric on the mower - next year I'll be sure to take a photo of you showing off your superior tractor skilz. 
THANK YOU ALL!


We started in February and March, digging out the greenhouses from the million feet of snow, and hustling plants to keep them warm and happy. 


We delivered those babies in a rented U-haul in a snowstorm. This is me and my wingman returning the truck. :)

 

Pretty soon it was time for field planting...

 

And farm fun, 4th o'July...


And flower harvest!







UFO Days at the end of July...



And a quick birthday canoeing date!






August and September silliness is essential in maintaining peak season sanity!


And oh how we loved the hoophouse dahlias this season!










Soon it was our last delivery...



 In October we started schooling at home and enjoying the beautiful fall!


So much to be thankful for this season. Best to you and yours from your HPF farmers!

photo credit - Renee Whisnant

xoxo Jennifer, Mike + Earl (and Meeks:)

Thursday, June 6, 2019




Hello dear HPF supporters!

Well, we've made some progress from freezing and windy and rain deluges, to 85 and sunny and boom! The new normal as our climate changes gives us one definite - EXTREMES! Woofdah. It's intense out here. Evermore important to support your local growers. - as you all do! Thanks a million!


Finally, the sun is shining!!!


We delivered a whole bunch of plants. This fuzzy pic is me, my wingman, and our little wingdog. We had our Auntie's shitzu staying with us for a coupld of weeks, and he fit right in.




We have a few blooms coming out of the field that will go to florists because we don't have enough for the retail markets. Retailers - we'll have flowers for you that last week of June if the sun shines, and the 80+ degree weather continues. It's a sloooowww season given the cold and gloomy conditions, but we seem to be picking up this week.

 



    




Mostly now, we've been planting and planting and planting, and playing in the mud kitchen, and taking a few breaths in between starter plant season, and field and hoop growing season.


Thanks to the Lakewinds Organic Field Fund, we were able to order a whole semi of black gold - fresh, sweet compost for our fields. We've been repairing the soil, and building fertility since we moved here four years ago, and this is something we've wanted to add for years. WOOT!



We're looking forward to seeing your faces as we start delivering in a few weeks! Happy June!


xxoo J,M+E, your HPF farmers

Saturday, March 9, 2019


 
All the photos in this post are the work of Barbara O'Brien - she came to visit this summer along with our home school friends. She's an amazing artist!  (We thought you could use a little summer).

Heeeyyyy friends!

Streeetch! That's me, flexing my unused blogger muscles. :) I'm going back to my roots. We tried Mail Chimp last year, and it has benefits for sure but I prefer a good old-fashioned blog. 

It's been (and still is) a long, long winter. But we promise spring will come sooner than later, and we have plant babies in the greenhouse to prove it. 

We're plowing snow like crazy, and hustling hoses and frozen potting mix and flats in and out of the cooler/insulated seeding room and greenhouses. Farmer Mike finally put an 8 foot tall flag on the water hydrant, as we've already lost it in the 6-foot blowing snow drifts twice. :)

This year feels good coming upon us. Our 7th year of farm business - woot!

We're blessed with the gifts of greater wisdom and experience, and they come in handy. Farm business is risky. Farming in the new norms of climate change is very risky. We put up a new, beautiful plastic covered hoop house and greenhouse this year. While we need it so badly, we've been scared to do it because of the increasing winds and storm events and now, heavy snow. But the bottom line is that we can't continue to do what we do without a better set-up, so we take these steps in faith. That the storms will be gentle, our houses strong, and if we do have damage, our skill set and resilience help us to take next steps to problem solve and begin again. So it goes in farming, and all of life.

One of the things I love so much about the "farming food and flowers lifestyle" is the seasonality of it. We can hunker down and rest during the winter season, so that we can emerge in spring with our strong bodies, rested minds and renewed resolve to farm like our lives depend on it. Because they do.

We're offering certified organic bedding plants, watermelon and garlic this year! And our flowers will continue to be farmed with organic practices, but we chose not to certify them directly because it's too complicated, expensive and not practical for our purposes. 

Hope you're all very well - we'll see you very soon!
xxoo

J,M + E