Highlights From 2018

This past year has been a year of learning and building for the future at STILL WATERS FARM AND GARDENS. We began the year attending a Flower Farming conference in Virginia and a Grower’s school in Ohio. We also attended the 30th Anniversary ASCFG Conference in Raleigh, NC.  Not only did we have the chance to learn from experts in the field (literally the flower fields), but these events were a great opportunity to network and build relationships with fellow flower farmers from around the country. The added benefit for us in attending these events this year was that they coincided with a birthday and anniversary making them even more memorable.

Over the past year on the farm, we experienced success growing snapdragons, larkspur, bells of Ireland, bachelor buttons, rudbeckia, zinnias, gomphrena, strawflowers, sunflowers, dahlias, chrysanthemums, and lavender to name a few. We sold our flowers to several local businesses as well as at our roadside Farm Stand featuring an attractively decorated Flower Wagon.  

One area we focused on this year was edible flowers. We researched how different varieties of edible flowers can be used to decorate, garnish and flavor many types of dishes, soups and desserts. We are planning to continue exploring culinary uses of these beautiful flowers.  

As mentioned earlier, we also decided to invest for the future, which included a 5 foot rotary tiller attachment for the tractor. This time saving implement has allowed us to prepare new beds much quicker and turn over existing beds in a shorter time.

We learned much in 2018 and now are eager to apply these principles in 2019.

Happenings on the Farm

Many people have idyllic thoughts about how wonderful it must be to work outside in the fresh air among all the pretty flowers. Well, that does happen at certain times of the year, but this past December was not one of those times and what happened has made us really appreciate the hard times all farmers have to face at some point. In November, we had built the most beautiful low tunnels which covered our newly planted ranunculus and anemones, as well as our hardy annuals. In the span of 24 hours in early December, some of these tunnels collapsed like a deck of cards when we received an unusual amount of heavy snow for Hickory, NC. We spent hours removing 10 inches of snow off the collapsed rows and then re-covering the low tunnels using a second layer that was fortunately in place as a floating row cover over the bed. Let us just say this was one of the more difficult times we faced this

year physically and some tears were shed. But praise be to God that we can look back at this moment and count it as one of those “character building” opportunities. Much to our joy, it looks like the “little baby” plants made it through this troubling experience just fine (and we did too). 

The other major happening on the farm in December was the start of construction on our new flower “cooler” being built inside a very old shed. Pictures will be coming in the February Newsletter.

Beginning in 2019, we will be offering an option for a Bouquet Subscription. With the purchase of a subscription, you will receive a hand-crafted bouquet of the freshest flowers every week based on the length of the subscription you choose.  

A Bouquet Subscription makes a wonderful gift for someone special, a mother, a wife, a friend or anyone that loves flowers.

 For more information, please visit our online shop at www.stillwatersfarmandgardens.com.