Painted Lady Flower Farm

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Franklin, MA
Painted Lady Flower Farm

Specialty Cut Flower Farm She deeply misses you and growing your flowers.

Our flower production and distribution will be taking a break for the 2021 season while the farmer regains strength after an unexpected health crisis (not Covid related)

Please wish her healing thoughts and a sp*edy recovery.

06/16/2020

There’s no place like home. ❤️
I don’t know where to start, and honestly I don’t know why I’m still here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very, very happy to be out of the hospital and cozy with Archie and my boys, but this whole cardiac arrest TWICE thing and a laundry list of other really scary things that happened that should have killed me...I’m in that fog of why am *I* even alive. Why me, and not that person or that person or that child. It’s a super weird place to be mentally. Does that make sense? It’s surreal.

Here’s my new office: I’ve got a vase of blown out ranuncs my youngest son cut me from the tunnel, my new cookbook that my oldest boy bought and my middle boy cooks my new diet from, water water water, a little brass “help me” bell.
My daily farmer diary has abruptly been replaced with a medication log, soooo many pills.
I’ve got a major pillow fort going on here on the couch as going upstairs is still tricky (I have a freaking WALKER) and Theo is pretty much always nearby. It’s weird how dogs can sense something is wrong.
So that’s a glimpse into our new normal. It’s bizarre: your small business? Let’s have a pandemic. Your heart? Let’s stomp the crap out of it. Twice. Break a dozen ribs while we’re at it.
Just please please keep my family healthy and safe.
I almost never ask for anything. Just that, and one more thing: is there anyone local who can help me comb out my hair? I’ve developed several matted areas from being bed bound. I can’t use my arms well, CPR hurts a lot. Dreadlocks are cool on other folks but I’m not wearing them well. I reached out to my salon but...crickets. I’ll probably need to cut all my hair off but would really rather not!
There. I did it. I asked for help.

06/08/2020

Still at the Hotel Cardiac, was hoping to be home by now but something’s come up that needs a looky and maybe a fixie. Missing my husband and boys and the flower farm terribly.
I want to say thank you to everyone near and far, your virtual support is amazingly uplifting. I love you guys!
I’m super wiped out, feels weird to go from beast to baby. If you have offered help in any way, thank you so much! Right now we’re just focusing on getting me mended and trust us, when we’re ready to direct helpers we will definitely reach out.
Look at this view! Spent a week without a window and I was crying to see the sky again.
Hey Grace I can almost see your farm from here in the reflection off the medical school!

06/05/2020

Update Sunday June 7:
❤️Thank you everyone for keeping me in your good thoughts! I am still here in cardiac ICU, it’s officially been a whole week. Tough day today but making progress as well. ...
Ok this is tough for me to share but please stick with me. Briefly as possible bc I’m still very weak and in a lot of pain: I had a major heart attack on Sunday. I need a sign on me that says don’t mind my farmer hands.
We will be canceling our summer flower shares and reaching out with refunds when I feel up to it. 💔
I had been feeling unwell a bit before then, maybe 2 weeks? but didn’t recognize earlier signs, thought maybe asthma? But Sunday was very scary, I went into cardiac arrest at hospital and some angels brought me back. Real people who go to work every day at the hospital and sleep in hotels to keep their families safe.
CPR saves lives.
That shock thing does too. 💔❤️
Then I got sent to UMass Worcester where they fixed my heart some more.
So please remember our first responders and medical personnel. I think I know where all our summer flowers are going...and pizzas and treats and big big love ❤️

05/08/2020

Full moon “Flower Moon” tonight. Are you feeling it? I am. In a good way. 🌸🌝 Ready for the of the flower biz, the mighty mighty Mother’s Day weekend.

We are completely sold out of our online store Mother’s Day preorders, just, WOW! Thank you so much for keeping this afloat. I love growing for you! Will there be more MD flowers available? I honestly don’t know. Better feel for it on Saturday afternoon. If the cooler isn’t bare and there’s fresh stems to bunch, I’ll post it for Sunday morning pickups.

Thankful that these mega double pink-a-licious tulips geared themselves up for weekend. I put in *a lot* despite a major strikeout last season.
Last year the entire (really, really big) planting of these were a different variety entirely. Not my supplier’s fault, the origin of the mislabeled tulip bulbs goes back to the Netherlands. Clueless until they started budding. Definitely something not right was going on. I was horrified, talked trash to them daily, did not pull a single one. I let them blow open in the field for our honeybees to collect pollen and cut all their wrong, single flowered heads off when they passed. (I might have actually thrown them a bit of a distance...better out than in) They were, nice, healthy, but not what I wanted. And they didn’t come back this year even though I left the bulbs in and let the foliage die back, so there’s that.

I think I checked this year’s Aveyron planting a couple times a day as they were budding up. When I knew they were true, my stress level dropped about halfway. Still hurdles to jump though, weather-wise.
Super duper doubles like this are hard to do field-grown because they collect rain like a barrel and rot in a hot/cold minute. So, yay! Not rotty, perfectly pink peony flowered tulips, just in time for Mother’s Day.
Thank you, !

05/05/2020

edited to add: Thursday evening update, we are sold out of our pre-ordered Mother's Day flowers, THANK YOU!!! Since we only use what we grow and do not buy in extras, we have what we have and can not go past capacity. If you placed an order and received confirmation, all good!

Looking for a flower-y treat for Mom? Order online and pick up at the flower farm on Friday, Saturday, and yes, even on Sunday morning (Sunday afternoon is for me 😊)

Perfect for Mom. Grab and go, boxed for travel. Everything grown right here.

Also perfect for your baby mama, work mom, auntie mom, doggy/kitty mama, or anyone who loves you like a mother.

We’re taking orders until we reach capacity. Thank you to everyone who has already placed orders! I miss my mama but I can still flower yours.

05/02/2020

Last week we tried a new thing: Saturday morning on-farm pickups of our fresh, flowers, pre-sold THE NIGHT BEFORE online. Look, click, pay, schedule. Drive up next day, point, and boom. Blooms 🌷🌷🌷 in your vehicle, handed off by me, wearing my lovely locally sourced flower-y 🌸 face mask (from ) and of course, gloves.
And Holy Moly, Mother of Pearl. All the polite expletives. We sold out in an hour and a half that night from a *let’s see if this works* social media post (very) late in the day! You all are so awesome!
I’m grateful, humbled, and in awe of the power and pleasure our fresh blooms bring you. Thank you, thank you!

So we did it again. Click on shop now button up there by the banner and hop on over to happy petal town.

We have a sold out spring flower share that goes live online for signups in November, it’s what, year 7 (I think) of that? Maybe year 6 for the early spring share, kind of a blur.
3 days a week we make lovely freshly harvested bunches for our spring members from our rows. We harvest stems daily as they are ready, process, bunch, and fill our walk-in cooler. And then empty it. The goal is first in, first out. Every day is different. On Friday nights we bunch everything remaining, count, take lousy photos, upload to online store, post, and hold our breath. There’s not a lot, we’re not a huge operation with unlimited availability. We have what we have. Our CSA members get our first wave of bloomage, be it spring, summer, monthly, or fall, and we offer up what is extra. They are not “leftovers” or seconds! Far from it. They are what we would use in our retail partner bunches, or farmer’s market bouquets, but, you know. Things are different now.
So we’re pivoting, embracing online sales, and doing the best we can.
Not being able to have PT help or flower fan volunteers this season is certainly cramping our huge to-do list but we manage. It gets done, the days are just longer. We’d LOVE extra help, but, we also know that you need to like, p*e! once in a while. And you cannot use our house bathroom at this time. So thank you, for everything. We will grow beautiful flowers for you, pandemic or not.

04/25/2020

Short version: limited fresh bunches available for on farm pickup Saturday from 10-12, preorders online only, link in profile. Need a local flower fix? We got you!
TLDR: Well, well. What a whirlwind week! It was the first week of our sold out spring CSA and *such a treat* to see, and chat with (either through a mask or at an extended appropriate social distance space) all my old and new flower friends! I didn’t get a chance to see/thank everyone in person, doing all the farm things at the same time. I’m so grateful. Don’t get out much these days...such a joy to connect.
Thank you so much for supporting our members only flower shares!
If you didn’t get in on time to join our spring share and are craving locally grown beauties, I made a few extra fresh bunches that you can buy online and pick up at the farm. Our retail parters are also dealing with this crazy tilt shift pandemic and pretty much the only way you can grab our hyper fresh bloomage is to click, pay, and pickup here on Saturdays. We are not handling cash at this time, so e-commerce it is.
Thanks to all! We will get through this. (Link to e-commerce shopping up in profile)

04/18/2020

What we do in times of uncertainty: pivot, prepare, and protect (as best as possible) and continue farming on, hoping for the best outcome. 💫🙏 🌷🌈

Predicted measurable snowfall ❄️ coming on tonight falling straight through into lunchtime tomorrow, and our beloved tulip 🌷 rows are *just* starting to show a bit of color, signaling harvest readiness. Picked the very first full color bunch yesterday for our kitchen table. It’s freaking mid-April, but you know what? (that’s my born and raised talking!) My family rallied and we put up the hoops, strung them, and then covered them with the heaviest AG50 spun fabric snow/frost protection available, for our/your tulips this afternoon. All for the love of bringing local flowers into your home ❤️

Pic # 2 from Wednesday afternoon, first pic taken just before dinner time tonight (Friday) evening.

Our spring share CSA farm pickups start this coming Monday! All the Covid-19 precautions, ✔️✔️✔️ We’ve got you (and us!) covered.

Walk-in cooler situation: all good! It’s so lovely in there. We’ve got gorgeous crate grown hyacinth, fancy heirloom and uncommon narcissi, and today we pulled in lots of our crated, harvest-ready tulips. It’s tight in there, and that’s a pre-planning success.

I can not wait to flower you!
There’s just a very few slots left in our spring shares, link up there by banner. I capped the numbers, so I can sleep at night. Rather have too many blooms than not enough.

If you’ve already signed up, check your email tomorrow for pickup info, and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your support *will* keep this small farm in business and there’s no words strong enough to show our thanks!

03/19/2020

Sharing baby pics on this drizzling first day of spring. The tulips are in complete disregard for the social distancing policy! Must have missed the memo.
🌷🌷🌷 🌷🌷🌷
They look to be coming on early this year, we will have to get the walk-in cooler ready, the buckets sanitized, check on wrapping supplies, check in with our spring share CSA members...all the things. Good thing I stocked up on gloves a while back, long before the pandemic.
I hope you’re well. Sending love and light, hope and strength. We will get through this craziness. We must.

02/23/2020

Bluebird skies today! My favorite. Still pretty cold outside unless you’re working in the greenhouse/propagation house or the high tunnel, in which case its t-shirt time, temps 75+ and wow, the water bottle is on its 3rd refill already. 💦 And ☀️
Tucked in loads of Icelandic poppies today, the really big pretty ones. Funny thing is, the seeds are from Italy!Iceland, from my personal travel experience, is a blend of amazing sweaters/sheep/ponies/lots of yogurt, fish and mutton-land. And glaciers and geysers. I didn’t see *any* poppies whatsoever.
So. Here’s hoping that the Icelandic/Italian poppies do well here again, I haven’t grown them since 2017 and have missed them dearly since.

02/18/2020

Tucked in a whole lotta these precious babies today.
The entire rainbow 🌈 :
Pinks, reds, whites. Yellows, oranges, peach. Purples. White with variegated stripes. Everything but blue, bc there’s no natural blue in ranunculus unless you dye a white and you *know* I’m never going there...good grief. On your own there.
Godsp*ed, my pretties. See you in May. ❤️

Address

Franklin, MA
02038

Telephone

+15082431962

Website

http://www.paintedladyflowerfarm.com/

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