My grandmothers name was Dalia and I am obsessed with the flowers, but I think it’s too hot here in Puerto Rico and they have never grown... or maybe it’s because I have a grey thumb and things don’t always die on me, but they never thrive as they should. So I really love all your gardening content as it lets me live vicariously. Anything in that front is interesting to me.
Laura - I wonder if you could grow them in a partially shady spot! That PR blazing sun is likely too hot but I bet you could make them work somewhere with part shade. It could be worth a try! That's a beautiful name your grandmother had - how cool to be named after such an incredible flower! Thanks for your input!!
I’ve tried an outdoor spot with direct sun and indoors next to a huge window. This year the plant grew and then it got full of mealy bugs and died, so no flowers. I was babysitting my brothers cat last week and had to take all my plants out, and maybe I can use that opportunity to eradicate the bugs before bringing them back in. Every time I think I got them all, they come back! I can also try the shady part of the balcony next year, to see if it works!
I like to see all that you & Chris do. I planted Dahlia's this year because I saw yours. I have a very small flower garden & a small vegetable patch. I like seeing the chicken & donkey videos. Keep up the great work.
That's so awesome to hear! How'd they do? I'm just getting ready to dig all the rest of them up in the cut flower patch and will have A LOT of dahlias for next year!! Wait til' you see what I've got planned for them!
the dahlia's did good. I didn't realize how much they spread so they were overcrowded where I planted them. I enjoyed being able to have cut flowers on my table. Mine did not make long stems, I don't know why. Maybe the breed of dahlia?
Good morning! I love reading about it all! As I live in an apartment with the two kitties and the teen your farm life is my dream!
Regarding regenerative farming, this does hold much interest. Have a look at The Good Farm Shop. This is an amazing initiative by a friend of mine and her husband. They do regenerative farming and have a small business preparing meals using produce from their farm. Everything is GF and even the packing is recycled.
Thanks for sharing this with me Marie! I will definitely check them out. If you like the regenerative ag topic, be sure to follow White Oak Pastures. Will Harris is a renegade and he's helping a lot of people learn the importance of us grazing animals on the land and that symbiotic relationship that has been so vital to nature for thousands of years. Listen to him on podcasts, read his new book that came out - he's such a wealth of information and truth...the world is better for him being in it, for sure, and I'm so glad there's a voice like his teaching today's farmers who are willing to heed his truths.
I'm curious to know if you got your greenhouse set up. Although I live in the PNW and my growing season is probably longer, I find having a greenhouse (small one) extends my growing season.
Your seed growing was incredible! I start a few variety of seeds to get a jump on plants that are difficult to find. Just like you though, I will do less this year for the same reason you gave. I want to still enjoy it all. I find I do that every year of my many years of gardening adventures. I cut something out every year and find I do fine without it.
Thank you for your daily updates on IG and your weekly letter. Your kind heart with your animals is something I enjoy seeing away from all the other crazy things going on in our world right now.
MaryEllen thank you for you input! We have the greenhouse frame up, the plastic ordered, and we need a few additional parts and pieces of wood to put it all back together, but we decided to wait until next Spring. We didn't want to have to deal with the plastic this winter- the snow will have to be knocked off of it ever winter, and we figured after such a busy growing year we'd want the rest this winter and already have enough snow removal to manage. So! We're hoping to have it up and running next year and I'll be deciding over the winter how I want to heat it- I'm thinking a smaller electric unit since we have solar...it should be more cost effective than propane but I'm still weighing those options. We're still looking to do some seed starting next year, but I'll likely do all food as opposed to flowers. Previous to this we were buying organic starts from a local nursery for all our fruits and veggies but I'd love to try my hand at seed starting all edible garden for next year!
I so enjoy seeing your message on Sunday - a spiritual experience! I too garden but have given up veggies in my initial beds because the critters eat everything so I will need to create a garden with some lovely fencing as it is in my front yard. I am having discussions with my designer friends to come up with ideas for that! Keep sharing all of your projects and ideas - I love all of it. A friend of mine told me something funny a few months ago: "I have these voices in my head with lots of ideas on new projects" she said to her husband. Her husband replied "Well tell them to shut up!" Clearly he gets pulled into these "new ideas" and would like to have less of them. Your plan for you garden is a great one and I agree - scaling things so that you still enjoy them is so important in the grand scheme.
Michelle thanks for your lovely comment - Chris would totally agree with your friend's husband. Hahaha he's a saint though because he never complains...he just says, "What needs to get done?" God bless him for that! Thanks for joining us on Sundays here - I love that we've been able to create this space to share our lives and hearts and it means a lot that so many of you take part. Who knew this would be such an amazing, fun, creative outlet! Can't wait to hear what you decide to do with your veggie garden - we had the same issues with critters this past year so I'll be sure to talk about what we're doing to fix it this time around!
Yes please to all of your questions! I currently have a backyard garden with 13 raised beds for veggies and all of the edges of the yard for fruit trees, canes, and flowers, but I'm looking to move to a place with more growing space. I love reading about what you are doing and getting ideas and inspiration for my future growing and animal-raising adventures!
Nora! That sounds amazing!! What kinds of fruit trees and canes are you growing? We want to add some more berry bushes, grapes, and fruit trees but I haven't decided if I'll take the leap this coming year. Ideally I would have planted them all the first year we moved here because we'd be coming up on having fruit to harvest this coming season! So much to do and so many ideas but so so little time, as you know!!
The ones that have been the easiest and most prolific have been the black raspberries, early red raspberries, and a tart cherry tree that is a sucker off of an old cherry tree we cut down. We do have to shroud the cherry tree in old "lace" curtains after the fruit have set to keep the squirrels and birds off and doing so also helps to keep the tree small. We also have grapes that produce a decent crop every other year or so and two apple trees that did exceptionally well this year but also tend to be on an every-other-year schedule. We just moved our two blueberry bushes to a sunnier location and they are now doing much better. Our one plum tree and one peach tree have given us a grand total of two peaches and maybe 6 plums over that last 8 or 10 years (if the trees produce, the squirrels take the fruit before they're ripe). We also have currants in several colors - champagne, red, and black - as well as rhubarb and strawberries. We mostly make jam and jelly with the fruit, or eat it fresh. If I had to pick one to recommend, I would go with the early red raspberries (assuming you like red raspberries for eating). There's nothing quite like eating fresh berries directly off the cane as you pick. Also, as a growing zone reference we are relatively nearby in the Glens Falls NY area. I'm excited to see what you end up doing next growing season! I love that you share your journey with us!
Just keep doing what you’re doing! I love watching the flower gardens grow, especially the dahlias! They’re becoming one of my favorite flowers. They’re so pretty and come in so many beautiful colours! Also, keep me posted on your job search! I keep thinking about you. After that farm note, I’m happy to say that I’ve finally received an offer and I start my new job at the end of November. It was a long, stressful and exhausting search that I’m happy is now over. I didn’t take the inside sales job in the restaurant industry but I did land a great job within the pharmaceutical industry! I hope you have a fantastic Sunday and new week ahead. Keep me posted on all the Little Dream Farm things! Hugs to the girlies and butt scratches to Dominic and Molly Max ❤️
SANDRA CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm SO thrilled to hear this news for you! YES! Just in time for you to begin working before the holidays and before the start of the new year--off to a good footing. Thanks for sharing this. I have a few things in the works that I'm working through now and the chips will fall as they're meant to. Writing and sharing this experience helped me to feel the encouragement from everyone and let go of my need to white knuckle control everything, so I am putting my best foot forward, putting LOTS out into the universe, and trusting the very best and right things will stick. We're going to have A LOT of dahlias this coming year...wait til you see the patch I'm planning for that!
Sarah, I know you’ll find something that’s perfect for you. It will literally fall into your lap when you least expect it. That’s exactly what happened to me! I’m sending lots out into the universe for you as well! I can’t wait to see the dahlias next year. I always love what you post and I can’t wait to see where the next year takes you, Chris,, the buggies, furmers and the ladies! Something GOOD is coming. I can’t feel it!
We planted 10 new fruit trees in the past two years. We are building and filling raised beds in our vegetable garden. We have nine 4x8 beds filled now. We have 10 more beds built but not filled. We have a small greenhouse we haven’t used yet. We have so much potential but not enough time. I am interested in everything you’re doing (except chickens. My husband said no chickens). We are in the Mohawk Valley. Before we got married in 2017 I lived in Delaware for more than 30 years. It’s been an adjustment for my gardening.
Hi Cindy - your gardens and growing spaces sound amazing! Did you build the beds yourself out of wood or are they the metal beds? We thought about swapping over to a raised bed garden to try and avoid so much weeding and so much pest pressure but I haven't wanted to make the investment in building them as wood is so expensive and we have so many other costs on the farm. SO! Maybe one day but at the moment we're sticking with in-ground growing. What kinds of fruit trees did you add? I've been wanting to expand our orchard to include more berries...our neighbor successfully grows grapes and another fellow farmer friend does pretty well with peaches here, both of which I'd love to add to our farm. I'll keep it coming as we make our plans. Tell your husband he's missing out on the glory of farm fresh eggs- there's nothing like it!! Plus...chickens are HILARIOUS and sweet...they're the whole package! :)
Trust me Denise I felt the same way when I typed "Week 43" I was like "I've been writing this note every week how in the heck have there already been 42 of them!!" Thanks for being here with us!!
Hi Judy! How big is the space you have? Curious to know what you're working with! It's amazing how much you can fit into just a bit of growing space if you're savvy about it!
I love and was floored by your Dahlias, I may try to plant some of those next season, as well as getting my foot back in the veggie game. Planning is not my strong suit on almost any front, so seeing some of that would also interest me.
Honestly, there isn’t really much that write about that I don’t enjoy and find thoroughly engaging. I love your conversational writing style and how open and honest you are❣️ It allows us to feel like we are genuinely along for the ride and friends, invested emotionally. 🥰. Thank you (and Chris) for being you.
I know your time is precious and you already share so generously with all of us and can do so much in a day. As long as it doesn’t take away from your sharing of your furry and feathered babies with us(my favorite), I would love to see more info on your organic and regenerative practices, particularly in the vegetable realm. I only usually keep a couple of garden beds, I did not do ANY real gardening this past season. I had some success the prior couple of years, but honestly am fairly inexperienced.
I spent most of my backyard time feeding squirrels, birds and deer ( which love to eat my garden😂) I love and am floored byfloored
Hi Sarah, i especially enjoy your behind the scenes about what goes into getting everything up and running and how you keep the cat crew up and running too! I applaud you in deciding to do less next year. You have to do that every once in awhile. -Rosemary C.
My grandmothers name was Dalia and I am obsessed with the flowers, but I think it’s too hot here in Puerto Rico and they have never grown... or maybe it’s because I have a grey thumb and things don’t always die on me, but they never thrive as they should. So I really love all your gardening content as it lets me live vicariously. Anything in that front is interesting to me.
Glad the chickens are doing so well!!!
Laura - I wonder if you could grow them in a partially shady spot! That PR blazing sun is likely too hot but I bet you could make them work somewhere with part shade. It could be worth a try! That's a beautiful name your grandmother had - how cool to be named after such an incredible flower! Thanks for your input!!
I’ve tried an outdoor spot with direct sun and indoors next to a huge window. This year the plant grew and then it got full of mealy bugs and died, so no flowers. I was babysitting my brothers cat last week and had to take all my plants out, and maybe I can use that opportunity to eradicate the bugs before bringing them back in. Every time I think I got them all, they come back! I can also try the shady part of the balcony next year, to see if it works!
I like to see all that you & Chris do. I planted Dahlia's this year because I saw yours. I have a very small flower garden & a small vegetable patch. I like seeing the chicken & donkey videos. Keep up the great work.
That's so awesome to hear! How'd they do? I'm just getting ready to dig all the rest of them up in the cut flower patch and will have A LOT of dahlias for next year!! Wait til' you see what I've got planned for them!
the dahlia's did good. I didn't realize how much they spread so they were overcrowded where I planted them. I enjoyed being able to have cut flowers on my table. Mine did not make long stems, I don't know why. Maybe the breed of dahlia?
Good morning! I love reading about it all! As I live in an apartment with the two kitties and the teen your farm life is my dream!
Regarding regenerative farming, this does hold much interest. Have a look at The Good Farm Shop. This is an amazing initiative by a friend of mine and her husband. They do regenerative farming and have a small business preparing meals using produce from their farm. Everything is GF and even the packing is recycled.
Big hugs to you all
Thanks for sharing this with me Marie! I will definitely check them out. If you like the regenerative ag topic, be sure to follow White Oak Pastures. Will Harris is a renegade and he's helping a lot of people learn the importance of us grazing animals on the land and that symbiotic relationship that has been so vital to nature for thousands of years. Listen to him on podcasts, read his new book that came out - he's such a wealth of information and truth...the world is better for him being in it, for sure, and I'm so glad there's a voice like his teaching today's farmers who are willing to heed his truths.
I'm curious to know if you got your greenhouse set up. Although I live in the PNW and my growing season is probably longer, I find having a greenhouse (small one) extends my growing season.
Your seed growing was incredible! I start a few variety of seeds to get a jump on plants that are difficult to find. Just like you though, I will do less this year for the same reason you gave. I want to still enjoy it all. I find I do that every year of my many years of gardening adventures. I cut something out every year and find I do fine without it.
Thank you for your daily updates on IG and your weekly letter. Your kind heart with your animals is something I enjoy seeing away from all the other crazy things going on in our world right now.
MaryEllen thank you for you input! We have the greenhouse frame up, the plastic ordered, and we need a few additional parts and pieces of wood to put it all back together, but we decided to wait until next Spring. We didn't want to have to deal with the plastic this winter- the snow will have to be knocked off of it ever winter, and we figured after such a busy growing year we'd want the rest this winter and already have enough snow removal to manage. So! We're hoping to have it up and running next year and I'll be deciding over the winter how I want to heat it- I'm thinking a smaller electric unit since we have solar...it should be more cost effective than propane but I'm still weighing those options. We're still looking to do some seed starting next year, but I'll likely do all food as opposed to flowers. Previous to this we were buying organic starts from a local nursery for all our fruits and veggies but I'd love to try my hand at seed starting all edible garden for next year!
I so enjoy seeing your message on Sunday - a spiritual experience! I too garden but have given up veggies in my initial beds because the critters eat everything so I will need to create a garden with some lovely fencing as it is in my front yard. I am having discussions with my designer friends to come up with ideas for that! Keep sharing all of your projects and ideas - I love all of it. A friend of mine told me something funny a few months ago: "I have these voices in my head with lots of ideas on new projects" she said to her husband. Her husband replied "Well tell them to shut up!" Clearly he gets pulled into these "new ideas" and would like to have less of them. Your plan for you garden is a great one and I agree - scaling things so that you still enjoy them is so important in the grand scheme.
Michelle thanks for your lovely comment - Chris would totally agree with your friend's husband. Hahaha he's a saint though because he never complains...he just says, "What needs to get done?" God bless him for that! Thanks for joining us on Sundays here - I love that we've been able to create this space to share our lives and hearts and it means a lot that so many of you take part. Who knew this would be such an amazing, fun, creative outlet! Can't wait to hear what you decide to do with your veggie garden - we had the same issues with critters this past year so I'll be sure to talk about what we're doing to fix it this time around!
Yes please to all of your questions! I currently have a backyard garden with 13 raised beds for veggies and all of the edges of the yard for fruit trees, canes, and flowers, but I'm looking to move to a place with more growing space. I love reading about what you are doing and getting ideas and inspiration for my future growing and animal-raising adventures!
Nora! That sounds amazing!! What kinds of fruit trees and canes are you growing? We want to add some more berry bushes, grapes, and fruit trees but I haven't decided if I'll take the leap this coming year. Ideally I would have planted them all the first year we moved here because we'd be coming up on having fruit to harvest this coming season! So much to do and so many ideas but so so little time, as you know!!
The ones that have been the easiest and most prolific have been the black raspberries, early red raspberries, and a tart cherry tree that is a sucker off of an old cherry tree we cut down. We do have to shroud the cherry tree in old "lace" curtains after the fruit have set to keep the squirrels and birds off and doing so also helps to keep the tree small. We also have grapes that produce a decent crop every other year or so and two apple trees that did exceptionally well this year but also tend to be on an every-other-year schedule. We just moved our two blueberry bushes to a sunnier location and they are now doing much better. Our one plum tree and one peach tree have given us a grand total of two peaches and maybe 6 plums over that last 8 or 10 years (if the trees produce, the squirrels take the fruit before they're ripe). We also have currants in several colors - champagne, red, and black - as well as rhubarb and strawberries. We mostly make jam and jelly with the fruit, or eat it fresh. If I had to pick one to recommend, I would go with the early red raspberries (assuming you like red raspberries for eating). There's nothing quite like eating fresh berries directly off the cane as you pick. Also, as a growing zone reference we are relatively nearby in the Glens Falls NY area. I'm excited to see what you end up doing next growing season! I love that you share your journey with us!
Just keep doing what you’re doing! I love watching the flower gardens grow, especially the dahlias! They’re becoming one of my favorite flowers. They’re so pretty and come in so many beautiful colours! Also, keep me posted on your job search! I keep thinking about you. After that farm note, I’m happy to say that I’ve finally received an offer and I start my new job at the end of November. It was a long, stressful and exhausting search that I’m happy is now over. I didn’t take the inside sales job in the restaurant industry but I did land a great job within the pharmaceutical industry! I hope you have a fantastic Sunday and new week ahead. Keep me posted on all the Little Dream Farm things! Hugs to the girlies and butt scratches to Dominic and Molly Max ❤️
SANDRA CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I'm SO thrilled to hear this news for you! YES! Just in time for you to begin working before the holidays and before the start of the new year--off to a good footing. Thanks for sharing this. I have a few things in the works that I'm working through now and the chips will fall as they're meant to. Writing and sharing this experience helped me to feel the encouragement from everyone and let go of my need to white knuckle control everything, so I am putting my best foot forward, putting LOTS out into the universe, and trusting the very best and right things will stick. We're going to have A LOT of dahlias this coming year...wait til you see the patch I'm planning for that!
Sarah, I know you’ll find something that’s perfect for you. It will literally fall into your lap when you least expect it. That’s exactly what happened to me! I’m sending lots out into the universe for you as well! I can’t wait to see the dahlias next year. I always love what you post and I can’t wait to see where the next year takes you, Chris,, the buggies, furmers and the ladies! Something GOOD is coming. I can’t feel it!
We planted 10 new fruit trees in the past two years. We are building and filling raised beds in our vegetable garden. We have nine 4x8 beds filled now. We have 10 more beds built but not filled. We have a small greenhouse we haven’t used yet. We have so much potential but not enough time. I am interested in everything you’re doing (except chickens. My husband said no chickens). We are in the Mohawk Valley. Before we got married in 2017 I lived in Delaware for more than 30 years. It’s been an adjustment for my gardening.
Hi Cindy - your gardens and growing spaces sound amazing! Did you build the beds yourself out of wood or are they the metal beds? We thought about swapping over to a raised bed garden to try and avoid so much weeding and so much pest pressure but I haven't wanted to make the investment in building them as wood is so expensive and we have so many other costs on the farm. SO! Maybe one day but at the moment we're sticking with in-ground growing. What kinds of fruit trees did you add? I've been wanting to expand our orchard to include more berries...our neighbor successfully grows grapes and another fellow farmer friend does pretty well with peaches here, both of which I'd love to add to our farm. I'll keep it coming as we make our plans. Tell your husband he's missing out on the glory of farm fresh eggs- there's nothing like it!! Plus...chickens are HILARIOUS and sweet...they're the whole package! :)
I love living vicariously through you guys. Also, it kinda slapped me in the face that there are only 9 weeks left to this year.
Trust me Denise I felt the same way when I typed "Week 43" I was like "I've been writing this note every week how in the heck have there already been 42 of them!!" Thanks for being here with us!!
Hi, I would like to know more about garden layout because we have one space for veg and flowers. Also organic gardening tips. Thanks!
Hi Judy! How big is the space you have? Curious to know what you're working with! It's amazing how much you can fit into just a bit of growing space if you're savvy about it!
I enjoy just watching everything you do. Nothing specific for me. 😊
Thank you for this incredibly nice comment, Kerri! It's such a pleasure having you along!!
I would like to know how I can grow in my back yard. I did it in the past but haven’t in a long time. You’ve encouraged me to try gardening again.
Whoops, posted before I was finished.
I love and was floored by your Dahlias, I may try to plant some of those next season, as well as getting my foot back in the veggie game. Planning is not my strong suit on almost any front, so seeing some of that would also interest me.
Honestly, there isn’t really much that write about that I don’t enjoy and find thoroughly engaging. I love your conversational writing style and how open and honest you are❣️ It allows us to feel like we are genuinely along for the ride and friends, invested emotionally. 🥰. Thank you (and Chris) for being you.
Ok, the short answer:
To almost everything, yes, lol 😁.
The specific answers:
I know your time is precious and you already share so generously with all of us and can do so much in a day. As long as it doesn’t take away from your sharing of your furry and feathered babies with us(my favorite), I would love to see more info on your organic and regenerative practices, particularly in the vegetable realm. I only usually keep a couple of garden beds, I did not do ANY real gardening this past season. I had some success the prior couple of years, but honestly am fairly inexperienced.
I spent most of my backyard time feeding squirrels, birds and deer ( which love to eat my garden😂) I love and am floored byfloored
I enjoy all of your gardening content. Seeing your garden adventures gives me inspiration. You are fearless in your approach to growing things.
Hi Sarah, i especially enjoy your behind the scenes about what goes into getting everything up and running and how you keep the cat crew up and running too! I applaud you in deciding to do less next year. You have to do that every once in awhile. -Rosemary C.