Good morning friends, we have all survived January.
I returned from Europe refreshed and ready to go. It was fun trip with my 87 year old “Uncle”, he did not miss a beat & walked almost 6 miles through central London on the first day, taking in all of the Christmas lights and of course some champagne at the Champagne Bar in Harrods! We were in 4 countries in as many days - in fact we popped over to Sweden for lunch - love traveling in Europe! ~ I know he had a few stories to tell at the retirement home he lives in!
Minster Lovell, Cotswolds - England
I hit the ground running on my return. January is all about planning for the up coming season. An inventory of sweet peas seeds was the first thing on my list and then a field plan. I saved sweet peas seeds for the first time this year which was a wonderful feeling. I can’t wait to see what the sweet pea patch is going to look like this year.
Castlewellan Sweet Pea
I mentioned in one of my previous musings that I have decided to scale back my growing space this season so that I can have more of a balance in my life. I am going from two fields down to one. That being said, when it came to plan the new area where I am going to grow my annual flowers it was so difficult to plan because of course I want to grow all the flowers in all the colors! I did stay strong and have come up with a good field plan that I feel is balanced with everything that I will need for this season. I feel so fortunate that Erin from Floret Flowers sent me packets of her “Floret Original” seeds. These seeds are about to be released into the world on Tuesday. They are seeds that she has bred and developed herself over the past seven years - so they are so special. I am so excited for the zinnias seeds I have received from her that I have the opportunity now to grow them this year. I promise I will share the results this year with you.
Dawn Creek Zinnias
The big project of the month was dividing dahlia tubers. Shannon, Penny and I sit down in the basement with hot mugs of tea and listen to BBC radio ~ we can tell you what is happening on the M25 around London - but no clue of what is happening here. We sit there and divide thousands of dahlia tubers. It used to be a project that I dreaded but honestly we have come to enjoy it. We have become fast and efficient and good at it so in actual fact it is quite fun now and there is much laughter amongst us. We are so close to the finish line which will be a major accomplishment. Once we have completed the dividing I will work on my field plan for the dahlias and then finally update my website so they will be ready to sell at the beginning of March - and as you are my email subscriber you will get first chance to buy the tubers.
Bracken Rose Dahlia
The January weather in the Pacific Northwest has been all over the place. We had over a week of VERY cold weather - down to 12F at night…this is not normal for this area. I tucked all my plant babies up in frost cloth and hoped for the best. I am very happy to say everything survived well. By the end of January the temperatures were in the mid 60’s F - farming is not for the faint of heart for sure.
January Sunrise on Willow & Mabel Garden Co.
Soooooo….I know that I have only been back on the farm for a few weeks…but I am off again on Thursday. In December my friend asked me if I wanted to join her on a trip to Sweden to visit her daughter who is working there at the moment. You know I love to travel, there are so many places to go and experience different cultures, to open your mind to different ways of living and I think it makes you grow as a person. Off to Sweden I go. We are going to Stockholm and then we head north to a very small town called Arvidsjaur close to the Arctic Circle. Dog Sledding and the Northern Lights are on the itinerary!! If you follow me on Instagram you will be able to follow along with my adventures on my IG Stories.
Thank you as always for reading my musings, I know that your inbox is so very full with so many other emails, it means the world to me that you chose to read mine.
Much Love,