Our Farm Today - Building Resiliance
These days we run a U-pick flower farm. We strive to provide a relaxing family atmosphere where everyone can have some fun. The young ones can stretch their legs and explore. You can pick a bucket of flowers and take great family photos. Relax, bring a snack, and enjoy God's beauty.
We are planning some changes to how we farm. We have noticed a distinct change in weather patterns over the last 10 years. We have noticed dramatic changes that are making it more difficult to produce crops. 40 years ago, it seemed like summer afternoon showers were a predictable, dependable thing. Lately, long stretches of near drought and other stretches of excessive rains seem much more common.
Because of that, we have divided our farm into 2 different sections with different soil types in each place. We will treat them differently and plant some of the areas by different methods. We hope to make our crops more resilient to both drought and excessive rains.
We are making increased use of "cover crops." Cover crops are grown on your soil when your main crop is finished. The purpose is to improve the nutrition and tilth of the soil.
We grow the cover crops after our main crop has been cut down and worked into the soil to decay. When the cover crops are finished they also help to nourish the soil before we plant the next crop. When you strip the extra flower leaves and throw them into the flower fields that also decays and helps to improve the soil nutrition.
Because of that, we have divided our farm into 2 different sections with different soil types in each place. We will treat them differently and plant some of the areas by different methods. We hope to make our crops more resilient to both drought and excessive rains.
We are making increased use of "cover crops." Cover crops are grown on your soil when your main crop is finished. The purpose is to improve the nutrition and tilth of the soil.
We grow the cover crops after our main crop has been cut down and worked into the soil to decay. When the cover crops are finished they also help to nourish the soil before we plant the next crop. When you strip the extra flower leaves and throw them into the flower fields that also decays and helps to improve the soil nutrition.
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Another thing we are hoping to do is increase butterfly habitat. We are planning to establish more plants that butterflies, hummingbirds, and songbirds like. The wet sand area by the water faucets will give butterflies the damp soil they need for drinking. Certain types of flowers will provide nectar for all sorts of pollinators. Some perennial flowers will provide seeds for songbirds, and other specific plants will provide habitat for butterflies to lay eggs. We have a lot to do.