02/04/2026
We hope you all are having a wonderful start to 2026!
Its been a pretty cold one here on the farm. When even Florida is hitting 20 degrees a few times within a month, it is worth noting! Our farm even got quite the snow flurries but it was warm enough that nothing stuck.
Our gardens are in a huge transition right now. When we were lucky enough to purchase the neighboring 10 acres about 2 years ago, we were thrilled. Its the entire ridge that leads down to the 8 acre, side of hill, original property.
Well, after doing a little clearing and looking around, we came to a few new conclusions this month. Is the main farms 2 largest gardens even in the right place? No. If we had owned all 18 acres it's actually one of the worst locations. Huge view to the North that brings the cold winds. Angled to the North West so the sun hours aren't the best. And it's down hill a bit which means we had to build and maintain a water berm. Honestly if we owned all 18 acres from the start, the farm house wouldn't even be where it is today.
So, needless to say, we are moving the main gardens. Well, the majority of them. The main garden to the right of the drive is where the original wood pile sat for years. This soil is too good to walk away from and the Roselle seems to do well there. The other side of the drive is mainly open and sunny, but the far corner of the garden is shaded and Papa brought in many loads of mulch. I also started building quite the double hoop walkway. So, this bed will just get much smaller. No need for a berm, no need to walk around the garden to get to the fire pit, and trips to the shop will be easier as the drive will not be lined with T Posts for your one slip up lol.
We have selected the perfect new spot. Its surrounded with trees but clear all in the middle. Dampled shade throughout all times of the day. The lot is perfectly level with just a little slide to the East. It needs a little yaupon scraping and quite the mulch pile to be brought in. We have noticed the deer just walk through or jump over the 5 ft electric t post fencing we have put out. So, an 8 ft wire fence with bunny wire at the bottom should do.
Its going to be quite the undertaking, and keep in mind we are just 2 people. Hiring a guy with a little larger equipment is a luxury. We always enjoy when he comes out to make our huge projects no problem. But 99.9% of the time it's just us. Papa is knocking on the door of being a septuagenarian, so we have to be realistic and strategic with work days and rest days.
Since it is the New Year, there are just a few things we are doing differently this year. We are putting 'first things first' and honestly, 'Family First' is more than just a saying around here.
Well, as busy as we are, we will not work Sundays any longer. Yes, we may pick things here, visit farms there, or start a sprinkler or two. But, no putting orders together, answering emails, or responding in any way.
As busy as we have been lately is an absolute blessing, but unfortunately the more orders we ship, the more messages & USPS lost order requests we receive. The 1 star reviews of our family farm without ever sending us a message are on the rise as well. Defending our farm has been a daily task and it's really causing burnout. Folks just aren't too nice any more.
Anyways, one more thing we aren't going to do is stress about this Monthly Farm Update. Yes, after we finish our orders and messages for the morning and grab lunch, it takes 3 afternoons to get the update together. One afternoon to think about topics and outline what to talk about and start typing, one afternoon to type it all out and get photos updated and another afternoon to send it all out via email & Facebook along with updating our featured items and farm photos on both. Needless to say this is right as we need to print all of our end of month paperwork. Also, we never start this process until the orders are cleared as much as possible and every email is answered.
So, honestly, we will most likely be dropping the 'Monthly' from 'Monthly Farm Update'. We will still send photos and cool weather shots, but it won't be in the same structure as it has for the last 5 years. We are just putting 'Family First'. There are many afternoon hikes, swims and bike rides we are missing out on.
For everyone who has asked about Papa and his health, thank you. It has been a total rollercoaster of a ride and we just finally got off of it. After discovering it was Alpha-Gal, it took a good 6 months for him to get built back to normal. Still, his energy will not be the same and working outside always poses more risk, but its calculated.
We might have never discovered that Medjool Dates are our favorite fruits. We might have never ground wheat berries to bake bread. We never knew homemade Pumpkin Pie made with Coconut Milk would be so darn good. Papa has even created a Pumpkin Pie Meringue with homemade vegan crust.
So we are still going to be working hard to find and list new natives, move our main garden beds for better sun, soil and pest prevention, and keep taking our time with all the small touches with each order. But it's going to be a whole lot of work (and fun).
Hope you all have a wonderful 2026!
Don't forget to feed the birds and sow some seeds!
Happy Planting!
H & H
Chill Hill Farms
