Worcester Woods Farm

  There has always been the idea of getting you all flowers on a weekly basis.  The reality is I just cannot get them picked on the same day as everything else is being harvested.  Also, there is the problem of fitting them all in the car without getting smushed.  On top of that, if it rains hard or is in the eighties, they can’t really be picked.  They wouldn’t hold up for long or they’d look like crap.  A lot of CSA farms have a pick-your-own kind of deal, and I like that, but there are so many flowers that would be great to get that don’t like that kind of harvesting.  It may not seem so important, but I really believe a large bunch of tulips or snapdragons or larkspur can be as beneficial as some green beans or zucchini.  This is certainly the case for Bonnie and me.  Although we are pretty low as a country in per capita spending (Europeans spend almost 3 times as much as Americans per year), I think we could have cut flowers as a respectable part of our income here on the farm.  I’m sure many of the stands at farmers markets would be happy to put them up on consignment as an added draw to their business.  Flower shops could buy from us to get fresher product and to say that they buy local.  Maybe weddings and restaurants too.  The challenges are growing them reliably using organic methods (although we seem to have pretty good luck), getting them picked economically, and having the flowers when the customers need them. 
  As I have referred to before, I think the trick to successfully running a farm of this size is to be carefully diverse.  If we tried to just sell flowers, we would probably fail.  What a shame it would be to begin to dread cutting delphiniums or sunflowers because you had to do it all the time.  Growing things on a smaller level also allows you to absorb the inevitable learning curve that exists with any new trade or craft.  By no means do I claim to be a great vegetable grower (yet!), but I am now making my mistakes on a much more manageable level.  We have not taken out big loans or bought tons of equipment, which allows us to fail without too many sleepless nights.  In fact, although frustrating, our failures are almost welcome in the sense that they refine our larger plan without misdirecting too many of our resources.  What I should have done this year was to harvest flowers for half of you each week (which most of the time I think would be possible); thereby you all would have gotten a good bunch here and there, instead of not getting them at all.  Although many of the flowers are starting to wind down (we had our first frost on August 17^th), I will do my best to get this done for however long the rest of them last. 
  It kills me to say this but we will not have turkeys for sale this year.  Originally we had planned to start them a little bit later in the season and harvest a couple days before Thanksgiving, which saves a great deal of freezer space and brings in money when not much else is left on the farm.  We ran into trouble finding a good source for chicks late in the season, and it just never really happened.  It is strangely quiet around here without them, as we have raised turkeys for the last eight years, and have gotten used to their ridiculous gobble-gobbling at any sudden sound, interrupting the regular noises of the farm.  Certainly we’ll be back at it next year.