Three Way Flower Farm

It’s that time of year. Homeowners and small farmers are planting. “Big Farma” is spraying.
Here are 3 things you need to know if you suspect herbicide damage.

🌱 What to look for 🌱
Several days after drift, leaves will start to curl. New growth will be malformed. Stems will twist. Grass will not be affected. Some vegetables, flowers, shrubs, perennials may “grow out of it” but will be stunted and subject to pests and disease.

🌱 Who to call 🌱
To report pesticide exposure or misuse contact (866) 918-4481 or email [email protected]. They will assign you a claim number and investigator. They may come interview you to gather more info, take pictures, and collect samples. Don’t be intimidated. It’s not as scary as it sounds.

🌱 Document, document, document 🌱
Take pictures and videos of sprayer activity. Write down times, directions, locations, temperature, witnesses, and wind speeds. Photograph plant changes. Log your plant types and square footages. If it can be documented, please take note.

Remember what to look for and please don’t just chalk it up to not having a green thumb. Change requires effort.

Hilarious that I’m no longer selling flowers. This week, the market price is $20 for a 5 stem bunch of peonies.

That translates to $160 sales price for these peonies at a farmers market or $280 for pricey wedding work. 😯

Did you realize that the USDA posts real-time market prices for flowers, just like they do for wheat or cattle? The more you know! 🌈 ⭐️

https://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/fv-nav-byCom?navClass=ORNAMENTALS&navType=byComm

The secret to growing gorgeous flowers in North Texas is 🥁…shade. These peonies were planted on the east side of my barn and only get morning sun. I mean, look at the grass this summer that’s under your trees, under your trampoline, on the north side of your house. Things thrive in shade here. In the devil’s asscrack we all know as Wichita Falls, if a flower should be planted in full sun, it means max 3 hours of sun a day. The sun is too direct here and it just gets too hot. It will fry otherwise. I’ve seen some of the prettiest, healthiest flowers planted on the north sides of houses here, which is a no-no for planting full sun plants in many other regions. Take my advice. To get gorgeous peonies like these, utilize shade or shade cloth. And can’t we just give a huge collective sigh for how pretty these are. 😌 They really need to come up with the upper lip tuck, creepy smile, nose wrinkle emoji. Because that’s the face I was making when I picked them this morning. 🤗 Love ya’ll.

Here’s why I hate air and the 3 reasons I give up. This is not a feel good post.

Air. We can’t live without it. Unfortunately, we have to share it. This May, my flowers were destroyed by herbicide drift from aerial spraying near my farm. I opened an investigation through the Texas Department of Agriculture. Recently, I found out my plants tested positive for 2,4-D, a long-acting herbicide used to kill broadleaf plants which includes w**ds AND flowers. But because the two aerial spray companies involved used the same chemical, the Texas Dept of Ag closed the investigation saying they couldn’t determine the source. This spring, I had to pay back thousands of dollars in bouquet subscriptions and lost thousands more in perennials, shrubs, and potential revenue. It was heart breaking.

Why I give up? 1) I have no control over it. It’s hard enough trying to work with Mother Nature when farming. This adds another element that makes it impossible. 2) There are no consequences. Obviously. This year I was naive enough to believe good communication would solve the problem. It did nothing. No one is looking out for the little guy. 3) It’s not a fluke. This is actually the third year in a row it’s happened. Just the first year I reported it. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I still love flowers. I’m not growing them anymore but I’m a wealth of knowledge. Please reach out to me if you ever have questions about growing cut flowers in North Texas.

If you ever suspect your own herbicide damage from aerial spraying or lawn spraying, reach out to me and I can guide you in the investigation process.

And thank you to all the wonderful people I’ve met along the way. You are as beautiful as the flowers.

Hanging up my flower hat,
Kristin

This photo represents hope y’all!

To be truthful with you, I’ve been very discouraged and depressed about flowers. I hadn’t stepped foot in the field or hoop house in over a month. It was so grown up with w**ds and grass in the hoop house that my hubby had to w**d eat in there. I feel so shameful even telling you that. He gave me a kick in the butt. He told me to get in there, that there were flowers blooming. What?! This y’all, THIS. I harvested the most beautiful echinacea this week from perennial plugs I started last fall.

My hope had almost run out. First, my first and second successions of summer flowers were ruined - malformed, stunted, and just plain disgusting. Then, my business hemorrhaged overnight as I had to refund thousands in revenue to customers on what was to be my first, profitable year as a small business. Heartbreaking. No customer was angry with me and I got so many words of encouragement from these precious people. I love them so much. 🤗 Lastly, I called to inquire about my case to the Texas Department of Agriculture and they said not to call back and check until 180 days had passed. That’s a long time in our instant gratification world. Frankly at this point, I’m not even sure if my crops sustained chemical damage or if it wasn’t some sort of virus spread by insects. Who knows.

If this picture doesn’t represent hope, I don’t know what does. A month ago, I had fully expected me to pull myself up by my bootstraps, replant, and jump back into farming. That hasn’t been the case. I’m tired. It will be a slow process to mentally get back to where I was. But now I just take this process to be part of the evolution of myself and my small business. I fully suspect that the beauty of growing flowers, the same beauty you see here in this picture, will be what draws me back in, just as it did in the very beginning.

“Sunflowers end up facing the sun, but they go through a lot of dirt to find their way there.”
– J.R. Rim

And by dirt, they mean the composted manure kind. 😆

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