05 Jan What’s New for 2023?
Happy 2023!
We are ecstatic to share some farm updates with you all for the 2023 season. This year marks a substantial turning point in the growth of our small farm. From new infrastructure to new crops, here are a few exciting changes this year. We can’t wait to share our sustainably grown flowers with you!
Infrastructure
We are calling 2023 “the year of infrastructure”, as we continue to lay the groundwork of building space for crop storage, cooler and design space, and everything else that has spent the last few years either in our farmhouse basement or on our back porch! Having a walk in cooler is a completely game-changer for us, allowing us to harvest crops at their peak, rather than attempting to keep them in the field until right before they are sold. Utilizing a cooler space means higher crop yields, which means more flowers for our customers! We will also be able to more easily store crops that are difficult (or impossible) to grow without cooler space – including tulips, anemones, and ranunculus.
Perennials
If you’ve been following the farm for awhile, you may know that we currently have two production areas in different places. Our first production space is in our most established perennial orchards (check out Swallowtail Forest Farm for more information on our diversified orchard crops!) This growing space is tucked in between rows of trees, and is irrigated by a cistern. This year, that growing space is completely planted out in perennials, including baptisia, peonies, hydrangeas, scabiosa, and Japanese anemones. We also expanded our space for previously planted perennials including yarrow, veronica, echinacea and phlox, and our bulbs including tulips and gladiolus.
Centralized Growing Space
As mentioned above, we have a second production space in a different location. This past season a lot of time was wasted transporting flowers from both places, and attempting to centralize tool and supply storage was tricky. That is why this season we are moving all annual production to one location. While this second production space is currently on raw land (no water, no electric), and irrigated by a rainwater cistern, we have plans to install utilities on this property in the not too distance future. We have roughly 3,750 square feet of bed space in this area, including two low tunnels for our early spring crops, ranunculus and anemones. We have a brand new storage shed right by our production space to store necessary field tools and supplies including broadforks, hortonova netting, hand tools and more. Having everything in one place will make our field work so much more streamlined, and hopefully cut out time spent moving things from one place to another!
Wholesale Offerings
We are so excited to share that we will be working with incredible floral designers and wedding florists throughout central PA this season. Working with such talented floral artists is an incredible honor, and it’s so fulfilling seeing our locally grown flowers featured in their beautiful work. If you are a florist or designer interested in sourcing local flowers this season, please contact us to receive a copy of our 2023 availability list and ordering information.
Floral Design and Weddings
As a small flower farm, we have received many requests for DIY and A La Carte wedding flowers in past seasons. While this historically has been a very small part of our business, we have found working with local brides and grooms to be such a wonderful and fulfilling experience. This year we are taking on a handful of full service weddings, incorporating 100% farm grown flowers. We are also offering DIY and A La Carte wedding packages for engaged couples interested in this option. If you are a sustainably minded bride or groom, please send us an email or use our contact form on our website to learn more about our wedding floral options.
Bulk Buckets and Monthly Bouquets
While we will not be offering a weekly Flower Club subscription this season, we will have Bulk Buckets for sale online for local pick-up, and a Monthly Bouquet option for customers looking to bring freshly grown flowers home throughout the season! We will update our online store later this month and will share more details as these options become available!
