The first week of the shut down found us out in the greenhouse every day. Joe has been tediously working on the electrical – turns out that it was a bit more complicated that I had anticipated. It’s mostly all wrapped up, so now the heat mats turn on at night and turn off in the morning without us having to do that little chore. Soon the lights will be rigged up, oddly I haven’t had any on them…it seems there would be an issue with that, but things are growing just fine – crossing my fingers that indeed the lack of artificial light will not hinder them too much.

The second week started off just as busy, we also decided to babysit for my cousin who has a job at an elderly assisted living center. Her babysitter was in lock down thanks to Covid, so she needed someone for two days.

Joe and the little boy really hit it off – Joe is so cute with kids, and the little boy just followed him around all day, sat on his lap, chatting with him, poking at him, building with him, they wore themselves out – they even napped in the big chair together – super cute!! Joe even gave him a ride on the tractor, which they both enjoyed!

I’ve planted all my seeds at least once now, I’ll rope back around and do a bit of successive planting, but for the most part, my seeds are tucked in and now I sit back and wait — hahahah, yeah, I thought that was funny too! I really want to plant more Zinnias and Cosmos – as if I really NEED them, but they are so much fun!!

I’ll be doing plenty of repotting, selling seedlings, getting the ground prepped, moving the stand, hopefully picking tulips if they ever make it up! My Lemon Bee Balm did really well, as did my Verbena.

Unfortunately, we had a visitor that decided to chew a bunch of heads off of things….ugg! Damn varmits! Joe set traps, we got two mice so far, and there hasn’t been any damage since then. Sadly I think they may have gotten my flat of 72 Honeywort….the seeds I saved from last year. I wasn’t sure if they were going to sprout, but they did….but not all of them, there were little divets in the tray where the mice had dug them out. I think I seen five coming up out of the 72…thankfully I bought seed, so I have a few others, but not nearly as much as last year…it will be okay!

A few important notes…

• My order of plugs arrived a few days into the shut down – so very exciting, and such a ton of work! I’ve sold out of my lavender (i kept some for myself, my daughter and gave some to my sister-in-law) it was very popular item to sell, perhaps I will do it again next year?
• I’ve had quite a few people come over, it was fun to see people and visit. We kept our distance, and did our business and off they went! My goal was to increase sales a bit more this year, it appears that selling seeds and seedlings has helped with that already! I’ve sold willow starts from our tree, as well as some of the plugs-Gromphena, Gerberea Daisy, Cherry Sparkler ornamental grass, Rosemary, even my overstock of Petunias went to a good home! It was fun to grow those by seed, not as difficult as I thought, hopefully they bloom!! I also found two good homes for the 20 or so Geraniums that I grew from seed also. It is very rewarding to see them go! The sweet peas have been a big hit – who knew!!
• By selling some of my plugs I met some other local flower growers, it was so much fun chatting and sharing notes about this business with local people. One of the people who came out to purchase stuff was a lady I’ve known since fourth grade–I haven’t talked to her since our 20th high school reunion! There was also a lady here that I knew from a few years ago, she took over the lease of my apartment when I moved to the farm-we didn’t’ realize it until we got to chatting.
• Obviously my floral classes were canceled, sad but true, darn Covid is just messing up everything. I recently seen a note written to Covid – it was from a seven year old boy, telling Covid how he hated it – and thanks for ruining his 7 birthday. It’s no good for anyone – the seniors that were hoping to enjoy their last few months in school, their graduation, their celebrations…the weddings that were planned…the grandparents that have passed away due to the virus, it’s just not good all the way around. But here we are, living in this strange time. We’ll see where this takes us, I hope those people who are saying that it is going to have two rounds are wrong, one is too much.
• Sweet Pea bed hopefully will be going in this week, we ended up over at my daughter’s house working on a project that I promised her we would take care of when they bought the house. A bit of a gift of our time to celebrate her new home. It wasn’t horrible work, but it was a work out – approximately 10,000 steps worth! Joe ran the chain saw, I hauled piles and piles of brush, the kids helped too and even a friend of theirs pitched in for two wheel barrows full. The kids have this cool little cart that was very handy hauling piles of wood and brush.
• More of our bedroom set arrived! We are very excited to have our sleigh bed, we will be even more happy when we get the dressers and night stands…but one little piece at a time is just fine too! It’s turning out beautifully!

I’m not going to lie – I wore myself OUT the last two weeks, I hit a wall yesterday, and hit it hard, I spent all day in bed today, we did take a little walk this evening which helped clear the cobwebs a bit, but my tummy is still a bit grumpy.

Sorry this is all sorts of out of order and in pieces, I’m still pulling myself together-of course it probably sounds the same as all my other posts lol!!

Have a fabulous Saturday. Try to find something positive to think about today, we don’t have control over so many things, but there are things we can control. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, and it seems even more so in these uncertain times. Until next time – hugs!