Happy New Year y’all!!  We’re gearing up for a beautiful flower filled 2023 and are looking for a couple of special people to join our team from February through June.  One very organized person to lead our flower bundling/shipping operations and one person to be a Jack/Jill of all trades on the farm.  The first position is largely indoors, while the second is largely outdoors.  Both require great physical health, mental acuity, and a positive and kind attitude.  

   These are paid positions and not internships.  We are very much looking for people with real work experience and a strong work ethic.  It is a fast paced work environment with tight deadlines, but a completely friendly and supportive atmosphere.  It’s critical to us that whomever we bring in, be not only highly competent and effective, but good natured and considerate.  Check out our job descriptions for more info !

   In other news, we had an exciting night of chasing ponies last night.  I got a call from the neighbor at 9:30 saying there were ponies on the train tracks, so we threw on some warm clothes, hopped in the golf cart and hauled ass out to the frontage road.  When we finally spotted them, they were indeed standing on one of the busiest freight tracks in the U.S.  Knowing that trains come by all the time and that animals don’t always get out of the way incited a sense of urgency about the ponies’ safety.

    We tried to coax them down with a bucket of feed, but they weren’t buying it and started towards the highway.  Alarmed, we ran up the 10 foot embankment through a thicket of briars and tried to corral them away from the highway and off the tracks towards the safety of our neighbor’s pasture.  Instead, they just ran down the tracks.  We chased those adorable ponies quite a ways before we finally got them all off the tracks.  Too much running in the dark on fist sized ankle rolling gravel for pajama time Steve.

    On the road, they bolted and started to make their way back to the tracks, but we managed to catch up in the golf cart and play cowboy and kept steering them away from the tracks and towards safety.  Back and forth we went up and down the road, steering them away from danger.

     Finally we got them into the pasture and the Sheriff arrived not long after.  We decided to turn it over to the professionals and made our way back home.  Last we saw, one of the neighbor’s had accidentally chased them into the woods of the state park.   Not our preferred ending to our impromptu nighttime neighborhood rodeo, but at least they were off the tracks and away from the highway.  This morning Mandy found them in the pasture along the wood-line.  We called the neighbors, who’d just discovered who the owners were and were going to get ahold of them, so they could be brought back home.  Phew.

     Lastly, I hope y’all fared well through the holiday weather.  We hit as low as 7 degrees (-10 with windchill) and my nose about fell off at 4 a.m. as I responded to greenhouse temp alarms for the 10th time.  We had a few busted pipes and some plant loss in a few outdoor locations, but we managed to diligently protect all of our major spring flowers in the greenhouses, so it was a big victory as far as we’re concerned.  

     Aside from the big thunderstorm, we are having a nice start to 2023.  The cabin is finally done and we welcomed the new year down there with a couple of good friends, a few beverages, some old records, and a low country boil.  We topped it off with some fancy fireworks from the Space Kroger and some late night chocolate chip cookies.  A full success.

    The days have been beautiful, the plants are setting roots, and we’re looking to send some beauty out into the world again very shortly.

   I hope you all had happy holidays and are off to a good start for the new year!

-Steve