Hey There
My flower farming journey began when we moved to a new home with a meadow. The meadow was filled with wild flowers like daisies and goldenrod (weeds to some, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder). I wanted to share this beauty with others, so I decided I better grow some "nice" flowers to go with them so that my friends didn't feel like I was giving them a bouquet of weeds.
Our growing season starts in April with heirloom narcissus. The only thing better than the fragrance of the narcissus is that of the peonies in late May and early June. We grow many varieties of perennial and annual flowers, but our obsession is dahlias. We grow more than 400 dahlias of 40 varieties.
All About Me
Why do I grow flowers for cutting? Being a flower farmer makes every summer morning like Christmas. I wake up at sunrise, jump out of bed, and rush outside to see the presents are under the trees. Each new bloom is an exciting, long awaited gift wrapped in sunshine. Each flower reminds me of the awesome magic of nature.
I am fascinated by the complexity of nature. I love sharing my farm with wildlife. Of course we have bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds that come to enjoy the flowers, but we also have dragonflies, bats, beetles, frogs, and so many kinds of birds. The hawks and owls come sit on posts among my flower beds and help defend them from hungry bunnies. Many of my flowers are murdered by marauding bunnies and ground hogs, or are devoured by hungry deer that think it’s a salad bar. But all creatures are welcome on my farm; we have no fences. We have wild turkeys, porcupines, bear, coyotes, and bobcats all completing the circle of life (cue Lion King music). I love watching them all, even when the bobcat corners me in my shed.
I care about the land and the future of the land. I care about soil health and the incredible complexity of tiny creatures that dwell in the soil and the symbiotic relationship between roots and fungi. I am fascinated by the mycorrhizal network that connects trees and plants together underground, and that trees share water, nutrients, and pass chemical signals back and forth to warn each other of predators.
Because we care about soil health and the future of our soil, we grow with sustainability in mind using organic practices. We don’t use pesticides and rely only on natural predators to take care of any pests. Aside from initial flower bed establishment where we dug up many, many tons of rocks (they don’t call it the Granite State for nothing), we practice no-till farming to improve soil structure and aggregation.
My grandparents grew up during the depression and World War II. Everything was saved. Nothing was ever wasted. Every uneaten scrap of food went to feed the dogs or the compost pile. Their values of thriftiness were passed down to me. Most of our vases used for bouquets are upcycled from the Hollis transfer station (i.e. our town dump) where the “Still Good” table is my favorite shopping boutique. I love finding new purposes for things that would otherwise be thrown away.
We want to shop local, grow local, and reduce the environmental footprint of the way we live.
I spent more than 30 years in a career in engineering, working in windowless rooms, going to work in the dark before sunrise, coming home from work in the dark. My career was fantastic, but now in retirement I just want to spend my days outside in sunlight, fresh air, rain, and snow. I want to participate in the wonder and magic of nature and experience growing abundant, fragrant, brilliantly colored flowers.
