One of my tasks this weekend was to print and complete the change of address form for my business and mail it to the IRS. As of June 27, my flower farm moved from Scottsburg, Indiana to Cecilia, Kentucky. Okay, there, I said it. I am now a Kentuckian? Good grief, I don’t even know what to call myself. In Indiana, you are a Hoosier. But in Kentucky? As a person who grew up on the border of a state, with the bordering state being the butt of many jokes as a kid, it’s still kind of hard to believe I am here. However, what I can say is this. I am falling more in love with the surrounding area every day. The rolling hills and scenery are breathtaking and, in my heart, I have known this was the right move for some time.
Okay – so what brought about moving from a home purchased a mere 18 months prior? If I were writing this anytime during the first half of the year, my words would be filled with hurt, anger, shock and disbelief. But as with everything, time softens emotions. What could be viewed as a setback can also be viewed as an opportunity. In Indiana, I had 2 acres that were plagued with water issues. I had no topsoil, a swale dead center in the middle of the property and more buried treasure (garbage) than I ever expected. My planting rows could only be 25 feet long. There was absolutely no place to build a barn or outbuilding and I shared had a driveway with my neighbors that made some things awkward. As a result, in March, my home went on the market. And while it sold quickly, it took 3 ½ agonizing months to close.
It was that period of time that really tested every single bit of patience and positivity that I possess. During this period, I did all I could to take every plant I could. I had crates of plants lining my driveway. The actual move to Kentucky took 2 trips – one trip was a 26 foot truck filled with ONLY plants. The photo below shows the crates that I had filled with potted plants.
The second trip with the same truck was the household stuff. Since moving in I have been scrambling to get the transported plants into the ground while also unpacking and trying to plan the beds for next year. But here I am, 10 weeks in, and I have time to actually sit and collect my thoughts and share them.
Color Me Mod Flower Farm,v2, is 3 acres of relatively flat, well-drained land that is already proving to be amazing. The plants I have gotten into the ground are not only surviving, they are thriving. I have delphinium and lavender actually blooming!
In Indiana, I had approximately 35 4’x25’ rows for planting. I had a significantly difficult time generating volumes of anything. And while I know I moved thousands of plants, I really didn’t have more that 30-50 of any one thing. So what I did with a lot of things is to use them as landscape plants since everything I brought with me was a perennial or a grass or shrub. The growth I have seen has far exceeded my expectations. The current area I have for production measures 50’x110’ and is more plowed than in Indiana. And since there is no swale in the middle of my property, I have room for at least 2 more production areas of the same size in addition to room for about 150 woodies that will be arriving in a couple of weeks.
I have nearly wrapped up my fall planting of hardy annuals and perennials with numbers that should allow me to have the kind of inventory to visit florists with buckets of flowers rather than a few stems. My son will be arriving in about three weeks and we will get low tunnels built to ensure the health of what is in the ground. In the meantime, I can't help but reflect on the last 2 years of this flower farmer journey. There is a lot more to tell you, but I will stop for now. Just know that while there may have been radio silence, there has been a lot going on and my journey continues forward. Until next time.