Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Odd Season


I know that the calendar says it is summer, but here we seem to have gone back to spring.
I harvested these rose petals about two weeks back the day before rain was expected.  It's rained quite a lot since then.  It's still raining today.
I like the cooler temperatures myself as I found the 90* days in May to be a bit much for me.  We don't typically plant around here in May, June 1st is the generally accepted day for planting out here.  While May was hotter than June we did end up with one 24* night right at the end of the month so I was glad I waited!
I started seeds indoors in April under lights with the plan to set them all out on the first of June.
I really had mixed results with this.After hardening them off, I did set out all my seedlings the first week, as pathetic as they were.  I also did a lot of direct sowing.  Now, a few weeks later, the direct sowing plants are as large, if not larger than my little nursed along seedlings.  But even that's not saying much.  Without the sunshine and heat, they are still so small.
I think next year, I want to plant early directly in the garden and have row covers ready to go.  I had hoped for that this year, but it didn't work out.
Meanwhile, I continue to forage what I can find growing wild, and dry what I can pick now.  The wild pink roses I've collected will go into my Sweet Dreams Tea blend.  These yellow petals will be turned into potpourris and Bath Teas.  Due to a bunch of rule changes and too many unknowns, we'll not be joining up with the Farmers Market we did last year.  It's disappointing on the one hand, but a bit of a relief on the other.  I am planning on focusing on the craft fairs and Christmas sales around here this fall.
This was decided last month.  And now that I see how pathetic our growing is going, I'm even more relieved.  It has taken a lot of the pressure off.  I am grateful.
I'll also have a lot more freedom to sell what I want and all the things I make at the craft fairs instead of needing to maintain a certain percentage of veggies versus other products.  And it was looking like all I would be allowed to sell was produce.  I made a lot more off of my other herbal products like the salts and balms and other things than I ever did off of the veggies.
So, we'll see how it all goes.  I've got lots of ideas and things I want to make.   Guess I'd best get to work!!!  Until then, you can still shop our little venture online here.  ;)

1 comment:

Prairie Rose said...

We had some cooler temps for a couple days here, but I think we will make up for it this weekend.
Hope the triple digits won't reach you.


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