The Hillside Farmstand

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The Hillside Farmstand Closed for 2026 season
šŸŒ»Locally grown flowers- Oakland,OR
āœØ Monthly Book ClubšŸ“š

10/20/2026

Working remotely means I can finish my workday, step out into the greenhouse with my matcha, and take a few minutes for myself before jumping into the next thing.

Itā€™s a little thing, but it makes a difference. Iā€™m trying to get better at enjoying these little pockets of time instead of always rushing to whateverā€™s next.

10/19/2026

I used to buy worm castings for my garden, but they can get pretty expensive. So I decided to start my own worm bin and now I have a steady supply of castings to use all over my garden.

I add a handful when Iā€™m potting up indoor plants, sprinkle them around the base of my flowers, and spread them through my flower beds before planting when I have enough. In the spring and summer, I also make worm tea and use it to foliar feed my flowers and fruit trees.

There are so many ways to use them, and Iā€™m still finding new ways to put my castings to work.

Follow along if you want to learn how to turn kitchen scraps into worm castings and put them to use in your own garden. I share what Iā€™m growing, whatā€™s working, and what Iā€™m learning along the way.

10/18/2026

Meet Howie, the friendliest goose youā€™ll ever meet.

Sometimes she wanders off to the neighbors for a few hours or if they have baby chicks, she might be gone for DAYS.

All we have to do is stand at the back door and yell, ā€œHOWIE!ā€ and sheā€™ll honk back to let us know sheā€™s alive and well.

10/17/2026

You really donā€™t need a lot of space to grow your own food. Microgreens are one of the easiest ways to start, and Iā€™ve been growing them for years, although not always consistently.

To get started:
- Solid tray
- Mesh tray
- Reusable grow medium
- Microgreen seeds
- Spray bottle

If youā€™ve been here for a while, you already know Iā€™m obsessed with On The Grow ā”‚ Microgreens Education I use all their microgreen trays and reusable grow mediums, and I pretty much do whatever they tell me to do like start a deep water culture system. So when I found out they had a new app to track microgreen grows, I had to check it out.

You can track each tray you start and it reminds you when to water and when to harvest. The best part is it also tells you how much of each variety of seed to use on your tray. I usually wing all of this and have been known to forget about trays.... So here is to no more forgotten trays of microgreens šŸ˜‚

And just like that, the 2026 farm stand season is officially over. šŸ„²Thank you to everyone who stopped out, bought flower...
10/16/2026

And just like that, the 2026 farm stand season is officially over. šŸ„²

Thank you to everyone who stopped out, bought flowers, and supported this little farm stand this year. I really thought weā€™d have flowers a little longer, but Mondayā€™s frost did more damage than I originally thought. I still have a few flowers hanging on, but not enough to open the stand.

So, thatā€™s a wrap on 2026!

But donā€™t worry, weā€™re already planning for spring. šŸŒ· March will be here before we know it, and I have so many tulips, ranunculus and alliums to get in the ground.

Thank you for making this another great year at the farm stand. I canā€™t wait to see you all again in the spring! šŸ’

10/15/2026

It feels a little ridiculous at first to write everything down on paper and label every single dahlia in the gardenā€¦ until you realize how quickly things can get mixed up.

I know mistakes happen. Iā€™m not perfect and I know thereā€™s always a chance I could send home the wrong dahlia with someone. But I try really hard to make sure that doesnā€™t happen.

Because if you order a purple dahlia, you should get a purple dahlia. Not a pink and white one. šŸ™ƒ

So here I am, tagging everything now so when itā€™s time to dig them up, I know exactly what I have and can keep everything straight for next year.

A little extra work now saves a whole lot of confusion later.

10/13/2026

Turns out the worms didnā€™t need a fancy setupā€¦ they just needed me to stop treating them like forgotten leftovers in the back of the fridge.

Last year my bin was either:
ā€¢ suspiciously dry
ā€¢ weirdly swampy
ā€¢ completely ignored until I remembered them

What changed?
I started doing 3 simple things:
ā€¢ checking the bins once a week
ā€¢ feeding smaller amounts consistently
ā€¢ paying attention to moisture levels

Thatā€™s it. No complicated system. No expensive upgrades. Just consistency.

Now somehow I have THREE thriving worm bins and creating castings for all the flowers.

The farmstand will be closed tomorrow! It got a little chilly last night, and while we didnā€™t lose many plants, some of ...
10/12/2026

The farmstand will be closed tomorrow!

It got a little chilly last night, and while we didnā€™t lose many plants, some of the flowers definitely took a hit from the cold.

Iā€™ll spend some time deadheading and cleaning things up, and with warmer weather coming, hopefully weā€™ll be back in business soon!

Iā€™ll keep you posted on how everything looks for Saturday.

Book club, dinner, and a really good October pick. šŸ“šTonight we discussed The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark, and I think thi...
10/12/2026

Book club, dinner, and a really good October pick. šŸ“š

Tonight we discussed The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark, and I think this might have been our highest-rated book so far! Definitely a great pick for October.

Next month, weā€™re reading Daisy by Katie Cotugno, and we get to preview it early through before it comes out in January! Itā€™s a reimagining of The Great Gatsby that explores what happens to Daisy after Gatsby, and I canā€™t wait to read it.

Iā€™m planning to reread The Great Gatsby before diving in. I never read it in school, but I read it in my 20s and absolutely loved it!

Did anyone else love The Great Gatsby? Or is it one of those books you were forced to read in school and never want to see again? šŸ˜‚

Book club sign by Courtney

10/11/2026

Don't overcomplicate it! You don't need to buy a fancy worm bin to start. The most expensive part was buying the worms but they multiply with time.

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Oakland, OR
97462

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