2023 Field Plans

I grew up with the mantra- "failure to plan is planning to fail". It's truth. We're getting ready to undertake a huge mountain of work on the farm this year... so as I write up the plan for myself I thought I would share it with you.

We started out with a honey and herb farm in 2005. Our big crops were honey, roses, red clover and peppermint. At the time, I was the only half of our partnership that had traveled and seen any working herb farms. I wanted to go into production in a big way on a few major crops... Carson didn't see it the way I did. We've had nearly 20 years in the in-between, and things have changed quite a bit.

First of all, we've done a lot of traveling. I added author and professional speaker to my resume... and that wasn't in the original plan. Then we asked the kids to choose a path they wanted to see their family business explore- and that led to three years in a downtown storefront. NONE of those adventures left any time to devote to farming.

So, here we are in 2023. We are solidly back on the farm. I am between books and not touring to speak and teach. This is the year to get everything back in order.

There is another well-known saying- "while the cat's away, the mice will play". 
That is also truth... and it is what our perennial plants have done in large part. Over the past few years we have still harvested them and used them in our products, but it has been a bit of an Easter egg hunt... 

Our initial investment in a herb farm is still sitting here waiting to be reaped. We have many plants in the ground that have just continued to mature... of course, they have moved around, expanded out of beds and generally run amok.

We've made an awful lot of mistakes- but the land has continued to stay on the original plan and it's waiting for us to catch up with the work it's been doing without us. If you are curious about herb farming and want to go deeper into what we can share, please catch us up in any of the following opportunities to visit, learn sustainable/biodynamic farming and beekeeping... and look around!

• Volunteer Hours (coming soon!)
• Farm Picnic Tours
• Field-to-Table Pizza Dinners
• Tea Tastings
• Tea Parties

Farming Method: Biodynamic

Major Crops-Transplanting and Splitting:

• Comfrey
• Jerusalem Artichoke
• Horseradish
• Garlic
• Valerian
• Marshmallow
• Mulberry
• Lemon Balm
• Honey Bees!!!!

Major Crops- New or Replacement:

• Sunflower (seeds and petals for tea... farm maze)
• Pumpkins (hull-less seeds and pumpkin patch)
• Pumpkins (pie)
• Lemon Verbena
• Spearmint
• Basil (u-pick and market)
• Parsley (u-pick and market)
• Chives (u-pick and market)
• Sage (u-pick and market)
• Dill (u-pick and market)
• Calendula
• Chamomile

Minor Crops- Transplanting and Splitting:

• Peppermint
• Rose
• Red Raspberry
• Echinacea
• Catnip
• Lemongrass

Minor Crops- New or Replacement:

• Rosemary (u-pick and market)
• Pineapple Sage
• Hibiscus (Roselle)
• Lavender
• St. John's Wort
• Anise Hyssop
• Holy Basil
• Bee Balm
• Feverfew??
• Pastured Chicken

Experimental:

• Moringa
• Arnica

See anything you like? Missing something that you really think we should grow? Let us know in the comments!!!