Aweside Farm

Aweside Farm Organic pressed edible flowers and dried edible flowers. A sustainable way to have flowers year round

29/05/2026

You win some, you lose some.

Certainly a tough spring for growers! Flowers are coming fast and leaving with the same pace.

I've written off things like forget me nots, bellis daisies, chives and now one of the top crops for this time of the year, the alyssum.

But as ever move, it is what it is and we sow again where we can, remove what's waved us goodbye, cut back anything I think we can save and we accept our fate on where it just wasn't meant to be this season.

I used to really beat myself up about things like this, tell myself I was a pants grower, I wasn't doing enough, work more, do more, be more, be better. I remember this time last year I was telling myself shifts from 4am to 9pm were totally normal. I've been doing it for years at the peak of the season, because it's normal. Then I hit a wall, quite literally....more on that another time 🙄🫪

Now, I break more, eat more, sleep more, have been out for dinner to get some space, yoga yoga yoga, and I know the power of hours, spend them intentionally and rest, truly rest. Cliché saying are clichés for a reason, what can you do from an empty cup?

Perfectionism has no place here and no grips on me anymore. Surprisingly there's something in letting go of all expectations, rules and unrealistic standards that leaves you freer to focus on what's important and see with clarity. Every bit of farm drama, is a bit of information and insight for the following season🌷🌸 xoxo

28/05/2026

So the heatwave has created a fair bit of chaos here. One of the patches that is far earlier than I was anticipating is the cornflower!

This here is just 1/3 of what's being grown, the Blue patch - with a few rouge pinks in there! And they've all come at once, aboy 3/4 weeks before expected and in the space of a week, we've gone full and rampant bloom.

Causing A LOT of processing chaos, as the farm overhaul is still underway taking up a lot of my capacity right now, as is all the changes in the processing space which are about 80% done! So this is a spanner in the works having ALL the cornflower patches coming into full flow - cutting a third back to buy time a few weeks ago did not stop the flush!!

And so now I've got to figure out how on earth we get this lot moving to where it needs to go and to get the dried portion for the farm processed, all whilst juggling the damage control of this week!

Across the farm, the swings in temps has meant lots of plants running to seed, total write offs, a lot of damage control, endless watering, getting in extra successions, planting up 1000s of plants in days and now this conundrum!

It's a pretty stunning place though, the cornflower patch is absolutely my favourite on the farm! Just seeing it this early is a slight shock to the system 🫣🤔

xoxo

26/05/2026

It's too hot.

That's all really.

Frost, wind and fire. Days apart. What a swing. Plants are confused. I am confused.

Tunnels 60c, plants giving up, thousands of plants to get in the ground, water finally back on, how long for...?, muscles hanging on by thread, kneecap quite literally taped in place - surprisingly effective. Maybe I can tape some thoughts to my mind as "Oh I forgot" is a sentence coming out my mouth every 82 seconds as there is an endless sea of things to contend with.

Fleece on, fleece off, quick, get shade netting on.

I will accept ANY thing as a win this year 😂 I know the land and my mind body and soul are trying their hardest in a sea of endless wildcards.

The concept of a plan is in the bin. Making it up as I go along.

Dance music is soul saving and music at 37499 BPM is all that's gonna cut it

That's all. Catch you next week when we've no doubt gone back to frost or something other wild swing 🌸🌷🔥🌊🤫

Ps. I will eventually catch up messages etc - theres not enough sentence making capacity in my brain generally speaking xoxo

25/05/2026

It's been a pretty gruelling week going from frost, 40 mph winds, water cutting out for 4 days, internet snapping in the wind and now stepping into a 32°c inferno, but the sunrise this morning and the cornflowers opening up, with the sound of the birds is just absolutely majestic.

Enjoying this moment of peace picking orders before we continue with some big landscaping jobs in 32°c 🔥

13/05/2026

The ramblings of a grower in Spring right now

WHAT IS THIS

It's boiling. It's freezing. It's windy. It's dry. Plants not happy. Me not happy. Part of my knee has fallen out.

Keep smiling. SMILE

That's all there is to report really.

xoxo love. Will try write more words and more succinct sentences in near future, maybe in 2928 ❤️

24/04/2026

Hello! I have so much to tell you but first of all just thank you!

It really meant a lot to be able to share what the journey has been like here over the last 6 years.

What I didn't quite expect is a pretty physical process of unravelling and release in myself at getting some of it out a little bit wider. There's been a lot I've held in and I've paid for that mentally and physically, so to be able to start putting words to things, has been a part of a process of letting go and moving through it.

However, now I know about my friends ADHD and autism, moving through it is an incredibly physical process for me, so I needed to just retreat and lay low and give myself a bit of space and time just to sit with things, feelings and listen to what my body was trying to tell me I need.

I suppose one of the things that when you go through what is essentially CPTSD layered ontop of undiagnosed neurospice, you become incredibly severed from your body and your needs and so the last 6 months I've been deeply in somatic therapy trying to reconnect all the bits of me that fractured, served and left me a bit of a discombobulated shell.

It's a whole process, and a lot of it in some ways has me leaning towards solitude but in a good way, I'm learning to be comfortable in my own presence again, and to enjoy being me again, instead of despising every fibre of my being.

I realise things will just take the time they take - that is also ever so slightly affected by the fact that I have no concept of time. So what I thought was genuinely last week, actually when I look at it was a month ago 🤣

So thank you! For always supporting me, willing me on, holding me and over the past month I've had so many long and deep conversations with folks over the phone or in person on the back of really cracking open and realising too many of us share these kinds of stories.

Whilst there's comfort in our sharing, it often leaves a wee sour note in how many of us have struggled, especially on the neurospicy side of things (a lot of us in growing!!), but how our craft has been the consistent pull and grounding force in all the turmoil.

🍀🌷All my love and I will slowly get back to mess

20/03/2026

Hey friends and family, it's 6 years of being on the farm. A long rumble but I wanted to share this moment with you and my gratefulness at being at a place of contentment, happiness, comfort and stepping into what I think is going to be a more joyful era of Aweside Farm and it would have been completely impossible without all of you endlessly cheering me on and helping to remind me of the beauty within this journey.

I'm endlessly grateful for my mum and dad, my sisters and partner for fighting to save this place when I had given up, for stepping in for me when I was too sick or injured, for loving me so fiercely when I didn't love myself.

This journey's been characterised by a lot of pain and suffering more than I really ever let on and I'm finally coming to terms with the trauma and accepting and working my way through both mentally and physically.

But I sit here with a lot of pride today at what we've created together, you all here and I, together. These incredible trees which are so big now, six years ago they didn't exist.

The plethora of wildlife and insects who didn't have a home who have plenty of spaces to call their home now here.

The vibrant sound of birds all over the site now the singing away each morning.

I feel so deeply connected to this place and I think my personal journey mirrors exactly the journey that this land has gone through too. I look around and I see it coming into its own. It's quirks. It's beauty. It's power, but most importantly it's resilience. This place has broke me but it was also the place that healed me.

I love calling this place my home now. I love who it's helped me become. I love what it's helped me discover. I love that it's taught me I'm enough ❤️🌱

Love to you all, always xoxo

19/03/2026

A few of you have asked what I'm doing with the troughs this season when I've been showing you around the seedlings.

I'm using them this season for growing small leaf nasturtium.

I usually pick several different things from one large patch of nasturtiums in the tunnel - baby leaves, medium sized leaves and flowers and then sometimes I do big bulk cuts. It adds a lot of stress to one dominant patch in the polytunnel being picked so frequently. So growing more, in different ways, to focus on the final product being picked. Good quality leaf requires more care and attention, flower production thrives of the "treat them mean" mantra.

I'm focusing a lot more this season on trying to bolster up the volume of the things, better consistency though the season and focus on the conditions the stages I pick plants at, need.

The plan is to have these smaller leaves in these troughs because I'm picking them so frequently. I'm hoping it will also just help with trying to find aspects of the farm where I can eliminate bending, which is pretty difficult but I've got to find some room somewhere for it.

I've shown one big batch and then over the season I'll be sewing two trays each week just to try and keep a general succession of them going throughout the season. I have no idea if it's enough or if this is going to work but we're giving it a go and just trying out some different things!

The variety I use is Empress of India. It's very similar to blue Pepe just a lot cheaper and often easier to get a hold of.

17/03/2026

The past week I've mostly been in the propagation tunnel continuing to prick out seedlings which are all looking really healthy and coming on nicely. I'm really happy with them!

The first batch of nasturtiums will be ready to be planted into the polytunnel later this week and the nasturtiums in the trough are coming on nicely as well. This is a bit of an experiment this year as I often pick two different sizes of leaves from the same space and I'm trying to make life a little bit easier by growing baby leaf in these troughs and seeing how that goes.

Lovage is returning, much to my nasal despair, but it was a very good plant for me in the past and I'm actually going back to growing lots more herbs this season.

Going back to my roots on some stuff and returning to a lot of the plants that I used to enjoy growing. They kind of got pushed to the side here, for various reasons I'll delve into sometimes, but never for a lack of financial value on the farm. They were a valuable income stream in those early days but as the flower grew, they dwindled.

I felt a loss I couldnt pin for a while. Herbs and veg were a big part of my joy for growing and especially cooking and baking which is something I've returned too. Lovage however, I will not be cooking with haha, it's just been hotly requested the past two years and I am finally giving in.

14/03/2026

Seed sowing well and truly underway and the prop house is filling up more and more each day as I prick out emerging seedlings out into their cell trays.

It's a nice feeling seeing this space fill up with lots of future colour and flavour!

13/03/2026

This week at pastry school we were making genoise sponge, and with lots of cream and raspberry jam filling, it felt fitting to take out the Raspberry Fandango and get this one covered up in some berry colours to match the berry flavours!

I'm really enjoying spending my Mondays at pastry school. It's nice to have something to get stuck into outside of the farm, a form of creativity and expression that I've really missed over the years.

Learning something fun each week and I'm really excited for the season to start because I have so many ideas about different flavours I want to use with the herbs that are grown here and ideas for new products too!! Going back to school is deffo a burst of inspiration I'm so happy to have and enjoy!



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Aweside Farm, The Street, Arlington
Polegate
BN266RY

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