A Summer Week at a Flower Farm

Thought I would give you a
glimpse into what is going on here at our small flower farm this time of year.

 

Monday: Harvest day, Bouquet Subscription Drop-off

Lisa, Bobo and Libby begin
harvesting flowers at 7:30am. 30-40 Buckets are prepared with an assortment of
different floral conditioners.  Suzanne
arrives to begin making the bouquets for afternoon deliveries. Harvesting is
finished around 1-2:00, Lisa dashes in for a quick shower and clean up before
making the afternoon deliveries. Suzanne will finish making bouquets for Market
and for the local business bouquet stand. All excess flowers will go to
florists tomorrow and to Market Wednesday.

 

Tuesday: Florist Deliveries and Bookkeeping

Lisa starts in the office
at 7 am preparing a flower list to fax to the first floral customer. She
attends to bookkeeping and correspondences between florist faxes and orders. By
mid morning, after all the flowers are sold, she packs the truck with flowers
for delivery to florists and bouquets to drop-off at the local business stand.
Once she returns home, she unpacks all empty buckets from van and gets ready
for Wednesday Market. To Do List: Stage flowers in buckets, pack paperwork, get
monies, etc…

 

Wednesday: Port

Warwick

Mid-Week Market

Lisa packs van with
flowers, heads out to Market. Returns from Market, unpacks van, and replenishes
any supplies depleted. Washes buckets from past 3 days, (about 40-50) to get
ready for harvest on Thursday.

 

Thursday: Harvest Day

Lisa, Bobo and Libby begin
harvesting flowers at 7:30am. 30-40 Buckets are prepared with an assortment of
different floral conditioners.  This
harvest day is a little more relaxed because the flowers are not needed until
the next day. Harvest typically ends around 2ish.

 

Friday: Garden Share Pick-Up, Local Bouquet Stand
Delivery

Suzanne makes bouquets and
sets-up for Share members to pick-up their share of flowers from 9am to 12
Noon.  Lisa delivers bouquets to local
bouquet stand and gets ready for the Market on Saturday. To Do List: Stage flowers
in buckets, pack paperwork, get monies, etc…

 

Saturday:

Yorktown

Market

Lisa packs van with
flowers and heads out to Market. Washes buckets once home to be ready for
harvest on Monday.

 

What’s not written here
are all the other chores that go along with flower farming that must be
addressed from time to time.  We also
have a mail order catalog business. So we are answering the phone, filling
orders, and maintaining inventory and so on. I guess we can see where the
summer has gone.