A Good Day...

You know it's a good day when your mailbox is filled with wonderful things like this! Can't wait to see inside the pages! Hope you all had a merry and joy filled Christmas!

Sunshine...

Hoping to inspire the sun to make an appearance. It's been a rare commodity on the flower farm! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Blessings...

The month of December is special on the flower farm. It's a time to reorganize, research and rejoice. Sure, we miss our time in the gardens but the beautiful plants in the greenhouse remind us that the growing season will arrive again...soon!

To prepare for the season ahead, we're reorganizing spaces and adding amazing new creations to the shop. We're spending time researching new flowers and vegetables to grow in the gardens and we're checking out the ingredient lists on a few commercially produced foods (scary)...opting instead to fill our freezer with healthy food for the busy days ahead (no toxic chemicals in these buns)!

We're taking advantage of seasonal organic citrus, cranberries and apples...and fermenting them into probiotic-filled relishes and salad dressings to enjoy when we're busy with our blooms.

But most of all we rejoice in God's beautiful gifts and blessings...each of you are among them. We humbly than you for your love and your support. Merry Christmas!

Something to warm you up!

A few November sights...

from the flower farm...

to warm you up a bit...

on another cold Nebraska day!

A 'Berry' Happy Flower Lady!

The afternoon spent in our greenhouse took the sting out of winter's first winds...

eating fresh strawberries sure helped too!

A Wonderful and Productive Weekend!

A wonderful and productive weekend on the Flower Farm! Saturday's Fermenting class was so fun and informative! 

My sweetie worked hard to install the new pellet/corn stove. 

It's now keeping the beautiful blooms in our greenhouse warm...

while using environmentally friendly and easily renewable resources!

For some reason we always manage to find time to spoil Isabelle's five very busy kittens...

sorry for the blurry picture...they are now in constant motion!

In Case You Wondered...

We use Ladybugs as a preventative measure to keep our greenhouse pesticide free. 

These lovely ladies search out and eat any bad bugs that may have traveled into the greenhouse on our stock plants. 

In case you wondered what it looks like when 18,000 Ladybugs come to live on the Flower Farm...

here you go!

The Season's Final Class

One last Fermenting class for 2014...Saturday, November 1 at 10AM. Jennie Dunavin, a registered dietician with our Fremont Hy Vee will discuss the health benefits of this easy and affordable method of food preservation. Lots of samples to taste and recipes to share. Class will be held in TLC's gift shop and cost is $10.00. Very few seats remaining. Let us know if we can save one for you! 

Isabelle

A very plump Isabelle came to live with us a few weeks ago. She immediately adapted to life on the Flower Farm. A few days after her arrival she became the mom of five. Isabelle introduced us to her family this morning. 

Let's just say we've had some cute and cuddly breaks around here today!

Autumn Beauty

The beautiful colors of Autumn in the gardens, the greenhouse and fields!

A Grateful Flower Lady!

Thank you! Job well done! The new roof on the greenhouse looks great! Just in time too! The weather service just issued a freeze warning for tomorrow morning. Now our collection of rare plants will be safe and warm!

Whew!

No more hail storms, please! It's been a long week...but we are so grateful to be getting the new roof on the greenhouse before winter arrives. The first of many roof replacements on the Flower Farm. Feeling blessed the damage wasn't worse!

Fermenting Class!

This Saturday's 10AM Fermenting class is filling fast...just 4 more seats available. This ancient method of food preservation is fast, easy, affordable and filled with the probiotics we need to boost our immune systems. Jennie Dunavan...one of the fantastic registered dieticians at our Fremont Hy-Vee will speak about the benefits of probiotics in our diet. Lots of samples to taste and recipes to share. Cost of class is $10.00 to cover fees and supplies. Let me know if I can save a seat for you! 

Changing Seasons

Love these gorgeous fall days...

But it's probably time to start thinking about moving our rare beauties...

Into the warmth of the greenhouse!

Fermenting 101

Had so much fun at our first Fermenting 101 class on Saturday! Looking forward to offering more classes about fermenting foods and their health benefits! Thank you Jennie Dunavin...one of the fantastic dieticians at our Fremont Hy-Vee for teaching us about the importance of adding these healthy Probiotics to our diet! The best part? It can be done easily, affordably and with produce from your own garden! Will be sharing more about the fermenting process at a later date!

Treasured Memories

More treasured memories from our Fall Open House! Thank you for your generous support of The Bridge and The Little Giants Foundation!

Thank You!

What a beautiful weekend! Thank you to everyone who attended...and to everyone who helped! We made some treasured memories! More pictures later. The little hummingbirds are so cute this morning! They showed off for us all weekend...I think they miss their audience!

Good Times!

We're having a great time out here! What a beautiful weekend to celebrate our Fall Open House! See you tomorrow from 10 am to 4 pm!

Fall Open House

It's Fall Open House Eve out here on the Flower Farm! The fun begins at 9am tomorrow!

Plants for Lois

You all know Lois Krohn as she is among the amazing friends who help with our Open Houses. Lois' home, landscape and gardens suffered severe damage on June 3 by baseball sized hail driven by 114 mph winds. Among so many other things...she lost many of the perennials in her gardens. 

If you have a plant or two in need of digging and dividing...we will gratefully be accepting those plants for her during this weekend's Open House. We know they will be treasured additions to the rebuilding effort of Lois' gardens! Thank you so much for sharing!

Little Giant's Day

We have some special events planned for this weekend's Fall Open House and this one will give you a BIG reason to BELIEVE! Sunday, September 7 has been designated 'Little Giant's Day' at TLC! Most visitors to our Flower Farm hear me speak about Emily Koesters and her journey with Schimke Immuno-osseous Displaysia...one of the rarest forms of dwarfism on earth. The Little Giants Foundation was founded to offer support to those diagnosed with rare forms of dwarfism and their families. little Giant Emily and her mom will be here on Sunday holding a raffle. A portion of the sale of my book 'Treasures of the Seasons' will also be donated. Be sure to get your Little Giants t-shirt! We'll be wearing ours! 

Amazing View...

Tonight's amazing view from the Flower Farm!

Stay safe in the storms everyone!

Daily Duty...

Looks like Mother Nature took care of today's watering for us...

That means a couple extra glorious hours in the shop for this flower lady!