How to Do it All? You Don’t

Dearest gentle reader,

It has been far too long since this author has put quill to parchment…

No, wait, that’s not how I meant to start.

It has been a long time since I’ve posted about our flower farming experience. And, no, it’s not because I have been binge-watching Bridgerton. (OK, not solely because I’ve been binge-watching Bridgerton.) But in our second year of flower farming—and our first year of selling our flowers—it has been harder to balance competing priorities.

My husband and I both have full-time jobs while we operate Lucky Fox Flowers. We also have a great nine-year old daughter we’re hopefully helping to thrive.  While we are both fortunate to have flexibility in our primary jobs, there is so much involved in running a flower farm. There have been more days than not that feel like there is no way we have enough time to get everything done.

So, if there are only so many hours in the day, how do you decide what gets done and what doesn’t? First and foremost is our daughter. And then our “primary” jobs definitely have to get done. We are not at a point where flower farming can be our sole source of income—and we may never get to that point. Therefore, we have to work on the farm outside of our regular working hours.

So, after that, anything that needs to get done to bring flowers to our Saturday farmers’ market has to get done. If we’re not actually selling our flowers, then we are not actually operating a flower farming business, right? So that means a schedule each week for cleaning buckets, harvesting and storing flowers, and building bouquets. And, of course, getting the family up at 6:00 am each Saturday (including the nine-year old) to get to market.

We have to deliver our bouquet subscriptions. Right now, we have six once-a-month bouquet subscriptions purchased by some of our good friends back in Alexandria. So we need to make sure we have the time to make the drive down to deliver their flowers.

We also need to make sure that flowers in the field have what they need to grow and that we are planting enough flowers to have blooms for our whole season. This means spending time each week ensuring irrigation systems are working, rows are as weed-free as possible, paths between rows are mowed, and flowers are being cut to promote more growth. We also need to make sure that we are planting new successions of flowers. Sunflowers, in particular, have their own schedule where we’re starting new trays indoors each week and transplanting seedlings out in the field each week, so we have a continuous supply of sunflowers.

That all eats up about all the time we have—and sometimes more than the time we have. Which means that several things continue to fall by the wayside. I am in charge of our marketing and social media and simply haven’t been able to find the time to post to Facebook and Instagram or to take as many pictures or videos as I should. I’m not a natural when it comes to social media, so I really should put more time into understanding how the channels work and how to develop more compelling content.

And there are more things we simply haven’t had time to work on or think about:  fencing, planning for fall planting, research on planting ranunculus, storing tarps, and the list goes on.

 But that’s where we are. We try to take care of the “must-do’s” and figure out a way to get to the “also-must-do’s-but-haven’t-been-able-to-find-the-time.” In the meantime, we’re going to enjoy what we’re doing and keep moving forward!