We had a class....

 This was such a fun class.  We offered two, an a.m. class and a p.m. class.  We talked about vintage design techniques and though it was alot of work to prepare for .....it was definately my favorite class so far.  Here we are putting together a design using a large glass frog that I probably found at an antique store or an estate sale.

 This is a desgin Eden put together using a pin frog in a shallow dish with calendula, gravel and some succulents.

 We have had this vase for ages and finally came up with the perfect way to use it.  Again a pin frog is anchored to the bottom with floral adhesive and then we poked in poppies.

 I don't think you could find a more perfect marriage between flower and vase as this is.


 Every class is taken on a tour of the farm to find out where all the flowers are and details about stage of harvest, how to harvest, and all manner of insightful flower stuff.

 Talking about the nitty-gritty of how to harvest yarrow and how to harvest using a knife.

 In the perennial garden explaining more nitty-gritty flower stuff.

 After the farm tour and demonstation/class, everyone is given buckets and are set free to gather the flowers of thier choice to go in their vases.

 We served this chocolate mousse......

 These  yummy raspberry bars......

 And these rhubard-packed muffins along with our mint ice tea.





 Jaguar even found a home with one of our class attendees.  (He was a really wild colored kitty.)

 When everyone gets back from picking flowers and munching their snacks they begin their own designs.

 This was our morning class.  Most of these ladies just got out of an exercise class.  Thank you for coming!

 More designing,  notice not one person brought a funky, vintage vase but I'm pretty sure after our demonstration they will go treasure hunting and find some.  Everybody needs a small vase collection.

This is our evening class with all their beautiful designs.  We had such a great time, thanks for coming.

I want it all.......

 This bride wanted lots of color with as much variety in specialty cut flowers as possible.  

 All of these flowers were grown here on BeeHaven Farm and designed beautifully by Eden who works at Petal Talk in Sandpoint, Idaho.

These fantastic mini sunflowers (as I call them) are an experiment of mine.  I am giving a crop costing talk this year at the ASCFG Association National conference in Tacoma, Wa.(http://www.ascfg.org/). I will be talking about how I grew these beauties.  You can't beat them for durability and strength in design work, not to mention they are the cutest, best,darn mini-sunflower you can get.  You might be lucky enough to get one tucked into one of our bouquets at Akins Harvest Foods in Bonners Ferry, Id or at the Sandpoint Farmers Market in Sandpoint, ID or at Petal Talk in Sandpoint, ID.

Wild Abundance with Reckless Abandon......

 This is my perennial garden that is just for "show".  It was oringally going to be a formal garden but I had to re-name it to a cottage garden when I couldn't keep up with the weeds, though it doesn't look too weedy in this shot.

  Wade is harvesting flowers, for himself no-doubt, to make a bouquet to sell at the market.  (I think he will have to pay me a commission since I don't remember him out there helping me weed.  (This was taken last year as my camera is broken right now and in the shop)

 We occassionally have on-farm classes and this is Eden demonstrating a European weave.  Check out the website for details on classes being offered.

 These flowers are hydrating and we will work them into mixed bouquets for the market, stores and subscriptions. 

 This is an order for a D-Y-I bride last year in August.  We like to wrap up everything nice and neat so it makes the trip home in good condition.

Talking about wild abundance, I put in this shot because we have a very serious amount of raspberries around here , and I can't wait for fresh raspberry pie.  I'm sure I will dedicate a whole blog entry to this fabulous lusciousness. (sp?)

Eye Candy.....

 Eden loves to work with flowers.  Probably she hasn't had much choice in the matter, but I'm confident that it is in her blood.  She is energetic and enthusiatic about flowers even after she comes home from work at Petal Talk and eagerly helps me put together bouquets for the market and grocery store.

 This spring a friend of the family got married and Eden designed the flowers.  It was before we had anything blooming on the farm so Eden ordered flowers in.

 This was fun to have all the flowers in the Dining room in the same color hues.  Pink wasn't always my favorite color but the more I work with flowers the more I like it.  In fact all the colors are my favorite colors now.  I really don't think you can make a mistake.  Look in nature at all the combinations, God has got it all figured out.

 I loved the combinations of fruit and artichokes with the tulips and hydrangeas.

I hated to see it go out the door, my dining room was so beautiful.  The wedding was beautiful too and so was the bride. 

Country Abundance....

This is real life, in real time here on BeeHaven Farm.  I had no idea when I picked these for dinner that they were this huge.  When Eden turned around she was inspired to take a picture and I laugh when I see this glorious abundance.  This amound of lettuce  should last two weeks.

It inspried me to make Wilted Lettuce for dinner.  This is something Bill's mother introduced me to and I loved it from day one.  It's a salad that bites you back.  I always wash the lettuce thouroughly and give it a spin to get out the excess water.

 The ingredients are simple.  Fresh lettuce, chopped onions, fried bacon, bacon grease (hot) and vinegar.  Google it as I'm sure you could find a more health conscious version, but because the bacon is from home raised pigs and it's what we have, that what I went with.

 This was dinner: pizza on a whole wheat crust where I  ground wheat berries in my wonder mill grain grinder and loaded with sausage and tons of veggies, wilted lettuce, and milk from our milk cow. 

 This is the "meat" of my topic really.  Those heads of lettuce came from this raised bed made by my husband (greatest guy on earth).  Without it we would not be enjoying such bounty yet.  Planting it early (end of March) and covering it with re-may frost protection cloth until May was the key here. 

The soil in raised beds warm up so much earlier.  He framed this up and used old tin roofing for the side walls.  Personally, I don't really like raised beds, they are too much work to keep up and water but I do believe that having one or two, to get some early veggies going, is a good idea.    We used 1/2" electrical PVC that are stuck over 3/8" rebar that were driven into the ground.  Then we clamp on the re-may with clamps from any hardware store.

Come on.....you've got to do this.  Look at these carrots, beets, lettuce, broccoli and cabbage.  If you look out in the real vegetable garden you won't see anything like this, especially with a cold and wet spring like this year.  In the old days you didn't starve in the middle of winter......you starved to death in spring.   OK, that's morbid, but you get my point.   We don't need to wait until July before we are eating from our gardens. 

Side note: We really are a flower farm, but I can't help what I am inspired to share and this blog is about Flowers, Farming, Food, and Fun so check in every once and awhile to see what's goinig on.

Testing by Fire.....

This is the very worst job the farm has to offer.  We were wet, cold and yet our spirits were high.  If you make it past this and still want work here you are "In" and "As Good As Gold."

The only worse job on the farm is probably cleaning out the chicken house, but even that is not near as large a project.

This crew was dedicated, fun, and just plain strong.  I'm the one that wavered at 10:30 when I insisted we break for hot cocoa with lots of whipping cream. 

This is a small picture of the field we smoked through.  You only get a small window to get this done before the weeds start taking over and it's time to move on to more pressing issues.  My window is in between the frsot-hardy plants being planted (end of April) and the not frost-hardy plants being planted (middle of May).

Short handed....

We woke up to rain this morning.  Today is the last day of school which means I have no help.....except this young, willing, fine fellow.  Well, he's coming whether I like it or not.

He is an amazingly cheerful helper.  He rises to the task of helping mom when all her hands are full.

After picking all the flowers it's time to feed all the animals.  We have Ancona ducks and three chickens. 

This is Betty.  She was born with a funky nerve issue in her hips so we got her for free and she will one day feed us.

Time to feed Belle.  She was born last fall and is our future replacement milk cow.  Isn't she cute?

Time to check the baby kittens in the garden shed.  Last week the mama cat and I has a bit of a go-around.  She insisted on living in the house and I insisted they live in the garden shed.  She moved them back to the house 5 times before the garden shed finally stuck. 

Next we feed Socks.  He is the bully of the neighborhood but boy is he awesome at keeping the deer out of my Garden.

Finally, we feed Jack.  He is the world most awesome mouser.  If you're a mouse, vole, or gopher, or bird you will "reu the day" you ran into "JACK".

So I wasn't short-handed after all.  Big things come in small packages.