I sit here curled up by our glorious fire, which makes winters definitely more bearable thinking about February. It is always a hard month. The fun of the holidays is way behind us and we are now in a holding pattern, desperate for some warmer weather to arrive.
A large part of February was spent underground like a little mole. We started the mammoth task of dividing dahlia tubers. I now have 150 different varieties of dahlia tubers. Each one stored in its own container - so as you can imagine our basement where they are tucked away each winter is getting pretty full. My intrepid crew sat with me each day with mugs full of tea and BBC radio playing in the background for almost three weeks dividing dahlia tubers. Honestly, we actually quite enjoy it now. Lots of chat and laughter made the days go quickly and we were finished a week ahead of schedule which was a huge bonus.
Then came the next mammoth task - honestly any project that involves dahlias is not small. They are definitely a labor of love! Deciding which dahlia tubers I am going to sell, which will go back into the field and then finally updating my website - farming is the easy part for me, dealing with websites is a whole other beast but job complete, and by the time you read this musing the tuber sale will be in full swing with hopefully no technical glitches!
Above ground in the greenhouse the sweet peas are growing nicely, they will be put outside hopefully in the next couple of weeks...I want the weather to be a tad warmer at night than it is at the moment. I also have to build some sort of structure to protect them from the birds which like to nibble on them, so another job on the never ending list.
We also started the first batch of seeds - these are for the more hardy plants. They are on heat mats in the greenhouse with dome lids on them plus at night I have to literally tuck them in for the night as it is so cold. I have long lengths of bubble wrap that I put over them at night to keep in the heat as the greenhouse is unheated. Quite the palaver but worth the effort.
Amongst all these other projects this month I have received several custom dried wreath orders. This is part of my business that I am trying to expand so it makes me really happy that orders are starting to come for some custom wreaths. It makes a lovely change to be creative like this especially in the depth of winter.
The new drying room progress is creeping along. I do my very best to try and not nag! I am so excited about it so I have to just be patient and be very grateful that my husband is doing this on the weekends - he is a third grade teacher and those little kids can be just a little exhausting at times!
The new drying room progress is creeping along. I do my very best to try and not nag! I am so excited about it so I have to just be patient and be very grateful that my husband is doing this on the weekends - he is a third grade teacher and those little kids can be just a little exhausting at times!
Now that we are into March the narcissus daffodils are starting to peek out of the ground and everytime I walk through the property there are new signs of life everywhere. I don’t think that I could anywhere where there are not four seasons. Working on a farm you are so aware of how quietly they keep moving forward.
I hope that your March is a good one and that the weather is kind to you wherever you may be.
Thank you for taking the time to read my musings from my little farm.