the beginning
The whole family on our first day in the new house…exhausted, stinky, and rained on, but happy to be home!
Oh, hello there.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a really supportive family member or friend, patiently engaging with just one more of our crazy adventures that will likely fail. Or, perhaps you’re some poor sucker who accidentally found yourself here, hoping to read about a real gardener. Unfortunately for all of you, I am an amateur. I know so little about the vast world that is gardening and flower farming. I’m not an expert.
What I am, however, is enamored. Completely and utterly captivated by the magic of growing flowers. Though I have yet to earn my place in the flower-farming world, despite my merits, the flowers are opening up for little ol’ me. Seeds have become seedlings, empty land has become marked rows of rich compost, waiting to accept these seedlings. And a gardener is becoming a farmer. A seed will grow. With so little attention a seed will do what a seed is supposed to do. It doesn’t care if you are an expert or a newbie, it only cares that it gets what it needs.
My name is Rachel. I’m the co-founder of Wishflower Farms. Along with my husband and best friend, Jason we decided to embark on a journey completely new to us (or at least me). Jason grew up surrounded by farming, he and his family for generations planted and harvested various types of livestock feed. After being suffocated by middle-class suburbia we realized what we wanted was land, and to do something special with it. A yard that leeched water and resources to simply be green grass wasn’t enough for us. We wanted to give back, to grow something that was useful, edible— beautiful. So we decided to upgrade from the small 4x2 garden bed in our previous home and buy a farmhouse on 1.6 acres. It isn’t much, but it sure beats the boxy backyard.
The upgrade in land was a bit of a downgrade in house. While beautiful and strong, our new home hasn’t been updated in its 30 year lifespan. We’re currently sloshing our wet feet on ancient carpet every time we get out of the shower (carpeted bathrooms- whose idea was that?). We had to replace our roof upon move-in, and our neon orange garage has a permanent cigarette smoke smell. But we love it. It’s perfect for our family of 5 and we are excited to fix her up slowly, over time. But it doesn’t matter how old the home because we can always go outside. Outside, old things are good things. Like the 20 foot tall trees that protect us from peeping neighbors or the row of pines that collect snowflakes on winter days looking like flocked Christmas trees.
First Priority
The soil surrounding our home is calm, much of it fertile, but as you move further away from the home to our farming area you will be inundated with sand burs, goat heads, and many other weeds relishing in the deficient, sandy soil. This is our first task. Fix the soil… bring her to glory, pull up the weeds, till in rich compost, and lay the foundation for soft petals and leaves in every color. The first piece of the puzzle was to conduct soil testing, we needed to know what was missing. The answer wasn’t surprising, most of all, we lacked nitrogen, almost completely. While pursuing a no-till method was our intention we decided that pathway would not be the best for us. The concept is good, but we need to get plants into the ground and fix our soil quickly. Theoretically, we could put 6 inches of soil and compost over the land but the cost of this would be astronomical. Instead, we opted to till in 2 inches of black tea and dairy compost. We are not worried much about disturbing underground root systems or microbial activity because there aren’t any, or there is very little worth saving. What roots exist in the top 6 inches are only weeds anyway. Perhaps this is a bad move, we’re yet to find out, but it was the only one we had.
We spent $500 to have 10 cubic yards delivered, and it took us a couple of weeks, just Jason and I, to move it over the mapped-out 58x33 foot bed. I’m pretty sure I injured my arm doing it, it was so much work, but I’m so proud of us and excited for the good start. The bed is now covered in a blanket of fresh and old snow, when it melts the moisture will help the nutrients seep deeper and wider into the sandy soil below, ideally creating a better, more long-term ready plot. We are serious about the task given to us to steward this land and bolster up her strengths so she can bless generations with many good things.
Come Along
If you’re a lover of gardening and farming, watching people fail and (hopefully) get back up again, maybe do us a favor and subscribe. We’ll probably include other journies like house projects, and animal rearing so stay tuned for those fun things as well. Also, be on the lookout for our YouTube channel- videos coming out Spring of 2025!