We get by with a little help from our friends

We just wanted to give some thanks to Steve and Chuck for helping us pot up all the lisianthus we got in.  We ordered them as plugs because they are pretty much impossible to start from seed, and they take forever, but they were just little itty bitty guys.  Unfortunately too, we had 5 trays of 288 plugs which needed to be put into trays that only hold 50 so they can continue to grow even more before they get planted out.  So, let's do the math: that means we potted up 1,440 plugs into 28 trays.  Whew!  Now you see why we couldn't have done it without them!

Well, extreme heat I don't think we are going to have to worry about, but cold maybe.  We're thinking maybe we got them a little too early, but we put a wood burning stove into the seed starting greenhouse so we are hoping they will make it!

This year is our first experimenting with heat and with trying to have flowers this early.  We are shooting for Mother's Day flowers, so wish us luck!

Makes me proud to continue on the tradition of small scale flower farming!

The week of presentations

After being on 10 tv plugging my business and my presentation at the Home and Garden show, I came home, took a nap, and then was off to the show.  Although there were only about 5-6 people that listened to my presentation, the stage manager there said I just picked a bad time to do it and suggested that I come back another year and go earlier in the day.  It was a good place to start though, hearing myself in a microphone was kind of intimidating.  Once I get the 10 tv DVD I will upload it onto here for everyone to see.

Then on Thursday, we went to Keller Farms to talk about how to grow greens in the winter.  It began their Backyard Gardener's Series and was a huge success.  There were more people there than there were seats and they were really excited to hear about it.  And now that the presentations are over, time for finals week for my Columbus State classes, wish me luck!

These make for some fun projects

http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/recipe-project/project-20110221.asp

Our spinach harvest last week... on a bright and sunny day!

Even though it looked like this outside, the sun shone into the greenhouse and really heated it up.

Look at all the beautiful spinach.

It was warm enough in there, I couldn't resist temptation to take my shoes off and stick them in the dirt.  Now don't get me wrong, this didn't last long, the soil was still cold.

Since it was so warm, I had to have some ice cream too.  I figured I might as well take full advantage!

Steve didn't really want to take a break from working to eat ice cream, but I think he enjoyed it anyway.

We're also gearing up to heat our seed starting greenhouse.  Our goal this year is to have flowers by Mother's Day, which requires starting things a little earlier than usual and our basement seed starting area isn't big enough to hold everything we are trying this spring.  

Check it out!

http://www.local-matters.org/story/sunny-meadows-grows-food-flowers-and-community

2011 Cooperative CSA info is finally here!

This year we are proud to announce...

Sunny Meadows Flower Farm 2011 Farmers' Cooperative Community Supported Agriculture Program

This season will be a total of 20 weeks, beginning the week of June 7^th and ending October 18^th. Each week you will get an array of all natural, local, farm fresh vegetables based on seasonality. Mother Nature will ultimately determine crop availability, but your share will include more than a variety of produce. Instead this year, it will be a cooperative of local farms. Your share will also include fresh cut flowers, fruit, herbs, fresh baked bread, canned goods, homemade soap, cheese, eggs, meats and other things throughout the season.

This year's partners include: Honeyrun Farm, Osage Lane Creamery, Lucky Cat Bakery, Blue Owl Garden Emporium, Anderson's Orchards, Triple J Farms and an Amish farmer named Vernon Yoder. All participating farms use sustainable, all natural practices and are in the Central Ohio area. There may be others involved too, but we will always make sure to let you know where you got it from, so you know where you can get more. Our goal is to expose you to the array of things that are available locally and also to give you a more eclectic CSA share each week. Please let us know if you are a vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, or have any other dietary restrictions that would affect your weekly CSA share.

CSA newsletter:

There will be weekly updates via newsletter about the share that is to come. With the vegetables that you may not be familiar, will be a full description and recipes. We have found that people who utilize the recipes are the ones who typically enjoy their share the most, as they find new ways to use their share contents. To be environmentally conscious we would prefer to have the newsletter online, but for those of you whom that will not work for will receive one when you pick up your share.

For the 2011 growing season the share price is $475, but we offer payment plans:

• Early bird: $450 if paid by March 1^st, 2011
• Full price: $475 paid by May 1^st, 2011
• Installment plan: 3 installments of $160 paid by March 1^st, April 1^st, and May 1^st
• Half share: $250 paid by May 1^st, 2011

Pick up spots:

Granville Farmer’s Market, Granville

Saturday 8 am-12 pm

At our farm, 3555 Watkins Road, Columbus

Wednesday 3-6pm

Upper Arlington Farmer's Market

Wednesday 3-6

Just email us if you want more information and a copy of the contract:

sunnymeadowsflowerfarm@gmail.com

Thank you for your support,

Gretel and Steve Adams

Sunny Meadows Flower Farm