Quotable Sunday 06/09/2013


Sweet Peas

Oh, to grow so fragrant of flower as the sweet pea.  Try as we could, many years the petite little blossoms eluded us.  Done in by unseasonable cold, or continual rain or extremely early heat.  But we persisted to be able to offer the heavenly perfume of a memorable flower that evokes dreams of the past. The reminder of a favorite gramma or mother who grew such wonderful little flowers in an array of colors.

This is what we wanted.....

This is what we did.....

 

Growing them down the center of our hoop house.

Staked and netted them and waited for them to bloom.....

Here they are today blooming like crazy!!

 Hundreds and hundreds of sweet smelling blossoms ready to be picked, sleeved and pack for our designers and markets.  The fragrance is heady and wonderful and at times dizzying.

From the front of the hoop house they rule the house.

This is the same view as the first one and you can see that a few mistakes were made. The plants performed gloriously but the netting was insufficient and the plants filled the walkways. 

A jungle of blooms enveloped the hoop house and limited the growth of other flowers growing along the side beds.  Lesson learned, a better netting setup, in fact all flowers in hoophouse might need netting. They grow so well with a little protection from the wild weather of late winter to early summer.

So we picked and picked and picked and packaged and packed them off to designers and our market friends.

And they flew out and went home with so many happy people. We were really caught off guard by how this old fashion flower connected with people. The stories and memories of loved ones were told by folks with such happy thoughts touched our hearts and showed the power of a simple flower that can lift  spirits and brighten days.

To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat.  ~Beverly Nichols

Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you. Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after the needs of life. It is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them. In this way life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly. Life is here to Enjoy!   Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh - See more at: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/18591/#sthash.SmKSdlwd.dpuf

Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you. Allow your love to nourish yourself as well as others. Do not strain after the needs of life. It is sufficient to be quietly alert and aware of them. In this way life proceeds more naturally and effortlessly. Life is here to Enjoy!   Yogi, Maharishi Mahesh - See more at: http://quotationsbook.com/quote/18591/#sthash.SmKSdlwd.dpuf

Quotable Sunday 05/12/2013


Just doing my Best, Mom!


It has been a crazy week and now that the biggest part is over, I am in that reflecting mood of what could we have done more.  Mother's Day weekend is a big week for us.  BIG... add a small wedding and a Mother's Day brunch event and it becomes CRAZY BIG!  It was wonderful, nerve-racking, fun and tiring all wrapped up together.  But I am still reflective, that we could have done so much more.  I didn't have enough of the perfect flowers but thanks to Peterkort roses, the wedding came out great.  A little sample...

 

I believe we had the right flowers for the brunch, thank goodness, they wanted purple shades.

 But having cut every decent flower available, we came up short in the market.  In a 5 hour market, we were out of bouquets in the 4th hour. Folks were still looking for bouquets and as hard as I tried to make something nice out of a few stems of anemones, tulips and stock, we were done.  I do not like that. I could have sold another 30 or more bouquets.  We try and work our plans but this year instead of the weather being too cool or too wet, it was too warm.  We have had weather in the 80's and spring flowers just fry in the heat and hot wind that blows. 

Our tunnels help keep the Oregon rain off our flowers but it hasn't rained much  Great weather to work outside, but hot as heck in the greenhouse or in our hoop houses.  Spring flowers just fried.

But the dahlias love it in the tunnel.

But still we need to do better, start earlier in the season, seed more, plant more, build more hoop houses.... on and on and on.  Sometimes it feels like there are actually a million jobs to do and only a few hours to do them.  We struggle to do more, be so much better and get it all done with some sacrifice to having a clean house, spending time with friends, a day away, or taking care of our self physically.  And then wham, my back goes out for a couple of days and you realize that as much as you want to be perfect, get it all done or do so much more, the body says enough for right now.  I can only do my best.  Just keep trying.

Those last two sentences were the most often heard  phrases from my mom and grandmom.  I had a very close relationship with these women, more than any of my friends growing up had with their moms or grandmothers.  They taught me so many things; good cooking, growing flowers and garden veggies, canning and freezing food, needlework, living within ones means, be frugal and mostly about helping others and seeing the best in people.  Especially seeing the best in me. I get super critical of myself and quite often lack enough confidence to do things.  Things it turns out that I can do, if I do my best and just keep trying.

So tomorrow is a new day, we will plant 400 lilies, start field planting about 60 trays of assorted flowers, move about 30 trays of new seedlings to the propagation house to get them ready for the field and start seeding and filling the greenhouse with new seedlings.  We will work the plan, strive to do better and just keep trying.  Tony and I say thanks to our moms, and grandmoms for the encouraging words, the strong work ethic and the drive to succeed.  Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

 “Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes, by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers and sisters, aunts and cousins, comrades and friends—but only one mother in the whole world.”
  - Kate Douglas Wiggin