Tuesday, December 3, 2013

First Year As A Small Farm

2013 marked our first year in business as small farmers.  Overall I thought it went pretty well.  Especially since it was such a crazy year.  We bought a house, tons of moving (three 26 foot u hauls), got married at our home, started a business, and worked full time to top it off.

My downfall is that I am a wicked procrastinator.  I will put off anything even though I am fully aware that I will be worse off for it.  I tend to start off okay each spring but then I just fall right off the wagon.  It is a struggle each day.  One that I am going to keep trying to overcome.

Despite that, the garden grew quite well.  I was able to sell lots of pretty bouquets at the market.  I met tons of wonderful new people and networked with other farms and businesses.  In regards to cash in vs. cash out, I nearly broke even.  Not too bad for my first year.  Of course, I'm not counting my hours worked.  That would be mentally painful.

I have lots of big new plans for the coming season.  I'm going to start raising culinary and medicinal herbs.  I have drawn out a beautiful garden plan for the back yard that includes around 16, 4' x 8' raised beds.  I'd like to start offering herbal wreaths, garlands, bouquets, sachets, and eventually, herbal body care products, tinctures, vinegar, dip mix, seasonings and oils.

I also hope to open the farm to private parties such as baby and bridal showers, garden club tours and herbal workshops.  Hopefully this can be accomplished by 2015.

I would like to wholesale more in the future too.  I do love the farmers market but it is very time consuming so I may phase myself out of it.  Hard to say for sure though.

Seed catalogs are starting to arrive in the mail so it is back to dreaming and planning.  Always my favorite time of year!













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