Flower Farming Myth Number 2
You get all winter off! Must be nice!
In reality, while farmers like myself that don’t have tunnels for season extension might get to take a pause in harvesting and seed sowing, we are still working.
Winter is the time where I am pouring over my books and crunching numbers. What flowers were most profitable, what did I rarely harvest, did a crop lose money, what are folks buying? Was there a huge slump in sales around the 4th of July again? Do I want to change that, or take the week off? The off season is all about planning for success. I plan my social media calendar. I’m sorry to break to it to you, but the vast majority of my social media posts are scheduled. Most are written during the coldest days of the year. I simply wouldn’t get to them otherwise.
Did I mention planning. Everything from planning what crop will go in what bed, planning when I’ll purchase seeds, supplies, and bulbs based on cash flow. Do I want to advertise any events this year?
During the winter I am also attending conferences, or reading to further my skills and knowledge base. I may also be applying for Farmers markets and events.
We also may start seed sowing or starting corms for anemones and ranunculus again in January or February.
The start of February is also when I start working out again. While I doubt that I will ever be as fit as I once was during my college soccer days, I still need to work out. Flower farming can take a large physical toll on the body. Especially as I work on such a small scale, I’m not using machinery to do the heavy lifting and back breaking work. I’m turning soil by hand, hauling hundreds of bulbs and bags of soil or amendments up hill by hand. There is plenty of bending, squatting, and kneeling during planting and harvesting. Carrying buckets of water and buckets of water filled with flowers gets tiring. Moving all the equipment needed for a Farmers Market is also a workout. I literally haul weights to anchor the tent down. Much like pre-season for sports, getting in shape now helps to prevent injury, allow me to maintain during the season, and quite honestly allows me to make it through the sprint that is a flower farmers season.
My goal in posting these myths is to be extremely transparent whether you are reading these posts as a fan of the business, or as someone thinking about flower farming or small scale market gardening. I don’t believe we do the industry or our community an favors only posting the extremely glamourous side of flower farming. If you ever see me twirling around the garden in a sun dress in July holding an armful of flowers, please check on my mental state. I might be need a nap instead of whatever I’m doing. Until next time, love your neighbor.
