Tidying up
Howdy!
Jenna from the field crew here again- thankful to be just field crew again! For a bit of time Elisa and Amelia have had varying reasons for taking some time off the farm, and Meg (the other half of the field crew) and I had taken over some of the tasks usually left up to the more experienced farmers at Two Boots. We had been harvesting the last of our blooms, creating availability lists, packing orders for our florists, making bouquets, and trying to manage our time on the farm well. We came out of this experience with so much appreciation for the knowledge, experience, coordination, and wisdom that keeps the farm running smoothly in the hands of Elisa and Amelia.
Our lower fields covered in one of the first frosts. They don’t stand a chance in the chilly microclimate between the hills.
There are so many little details when it comes to tailoring flower orders for our clients: Does this flower need to last for several days or one wedding event? Can a snow white stem of scabiosa be substituted for an off-white peachy one for this client? Does this shade of purple mum work well in this bouquet or should we have gone with the yellow? There is so much coordination and communication that goes into this work! Now that our fearless leaders have returned, Meg and I are ready, if not thankful, to get our hands dirty again to start cleaning up the farm after the last couple of frosts.
This week we’ve gotten to work clearing the fields of almost all of our crops, most of which have died off or gone dormant in the cold. It’s such a strange sight to see bare fields where tall rows of flowers once stood and countless hours of harvesting took place.
While some crops can be mowed with power tools and cut down quickly, most of our crops are grown on reusable landscape fabric that could easily be chopped up by machinery. We opt for using loppers to cut plants at the base where the stem meet the soil. The fabric saves of lots of time weeding in our busiest season, so we’re happy to spend the extra time hand-chopping plants rather than clearing them with a mower. And luckily with our no-till practices, we leave the roots in the soil to add back organic matter, saving us the mess and labor involved in pulling out plants by the roots.
There’s a whole lot of staking and netting that goes on at Two Boots. And it all goes somewhere at the end of the season!
Dried blooms for wreathmaking, well-preserved in the cool, dark basement with the assistance of a dehumidifier.
Next on our cleanup agenda is to prepare our faithful dahlia beds for the winter- more on that next week! For now we’re going to keep chopping away, setting down cover crops, and organizing our tools and materials for next year. The beds may be empty and fresh cut flower season has just about ended, but luckily our storage is full of lots of dried materials saved up all throughout the season for our wreaths! We’ll soon be stepping up wreath production and will begin to transition our autumnal wreaths into some cooler, wintery seasonal pieces. Stay tuned!
Sunday, November 14th, 8:00 am - 11:00 am: Johnny’s
We’ll be back at our regular market this weekend with many of our typical offerings.
This week we’ll have carrots, celery, garlic, persimmons, radishes, hakurei turnips and spring mix. Our produce offerings for the year are dwindling, but we’ll do our best to bring a good selection to market weekly.
After the last couple of frosts, our offering of bouquets has come to an end. However, we will still have eucalyptus bunches as well as succulents to brighten your home.
And, of course, we will have plenty of wreaths!
Wishing you well,
Jenna and the rest of the Two Boots Farm crew
The face of youthful innocence.
The face of sophistication and elegance.