I’m really excited about this coming growing season; actually, I’m excited about every growing season! The time to sow can’t get here soon enough! Winter supplies have run low and there are so many different methods of sprouting, growing and harvesting I want to experiment with! I have seeds saved from last year ready to sprout and the green house is up! I’m counting the days to our last frost date. I have a local and online community to serve!
My favorite improvement is new raised beds!!! We were blessed with some free wood. We are making as many raised beds as possible. This really increases my production as I’m able to grow more plants and a wider variety. This means I’m able to serve more people. I’m able to control the quality of the soil and everything else that goes into raising plants. I’m so grateful for this big step forward into our off grid, sustainable herb farm journey. I can’t wait to offer teas, culinary herbs and other products made with more farm-grown herbs than ever before.
On the homestead, I’ve set a goal to have 6 months of food stored up by the end of the season. What I mean by food is what we normally eat and all ingredients to make what we normally make. It’s great to have years of white rice stored however, if I don’t have salt and spices stored as well, it’s not going to be tasty rice. There is no reason to sacrifice what we enjoy. These raised beds allows me to take on that challenge! I’ll be preserving food for weeks this fall if I have it my way! I’m not really a fruit and veggie farmer however, I do grow extra food plants and harvest seeds for my community. I try to grow produce to sell as well however, I’m not always successful as it’s not my main focus.
Seed starting time is approaching and I’m ready!!! The greenhouse is up and ready for sprouting seeds. I’m able to offer a wider variety of seeds and seedlings than last year. This just warms my soul, for every plant I see I feel I’ve planted the seed of empowerment in someone. It only takes growing one plant to get the confidence in ourselves and our abilities. Seeds grow into beautiful gardens. If I’m not empowering them with seeds and plants, I’m empowering them with knowledge, not just knowledge of the plants but knowledge of what else the can do. It’s great to sell a plant and make a few bucks however, giving someone the power to use that plant and what they can also do on their own or purchase elsewhere only enhances their healing power. I see myself as a part of the process of helping someone heal, true healing takes a diverse variety of techniques. Herbs and herbal medicines are only one.
Of course all of this costs money and we aren’t made of it. We’ve had some pretty big financial set backs this past year, things got really tough for us. We’re getting better however, we don’t have the finances we once had. I started a Fundly crowdfunding (similar to Go Fund Me) account for anyone who would like to donate to our farm. I have a list on there as to where the funds will go and I will certainly post updates and pictures. If people are going to donate to helping me help others, I’m going to honor that by keeping true to my word and posting current updates. Currently I’m asking for funds for the Nursery to buy things like another greenhouse, nursery pots, seed staring trays, lights, etc. Check out my page. If you’re close enough to me and can help with any of the items please message me. Free is great however, I have no problem working for you as payment or bartering. Depending on the item and price, I may just pay for it. I can ask for less on Fundly if I can find what I need locally.
As far as the apothecary is going, more herbs means more products!!! I’m able to extend my collection of herbs and what I can make with them. I make many medicines that are tailored to one person. A wider variety of herbs helps me to address a wider variety of ailments and people.
I miss making subscription boxes! I’ve noticed, like everything else, subscription boxes are going up in price. In my desire to subscribe to a box I received 3 years ago, I noticed a big price difference. I’m not able to get the box right now with our current situation. This got me to thinking…I know I’m not the only one experiencing this. I’ve decided to do something about it and start another one but with today’s challenges in mind. People have less money to spend these days and product, packaging and shipping keep going up in price. I’ve decided to ease myself back into subscription boxes by offering a small, affordable box with 3 items for a fair price. I can keep the box small and light for affordable shipping. This will allow me to offer free shipping and a wonderfully enchanted box at a price more people can afford. This also allows me less stress and more time to make really high-quality products. I’ll post about this again soon 🙂 The idea is still brewing.
This is going to be my best season yet! I’ll either succeed or learn, either way will be good! My expectation is little of both. I’ll have abundance in some plants, lessons learned in others. The blessing of abundance will be shared with my community, the blessing of lessons will help us grow and do better in years to come. There is no such thing as failure or impossible on this farm. Only success and lessons and lessons are a form of success if truly learned and put into action.
With gratitude and loving thoughts,
Rainie Dae
Love of Lotus Apothecary and Farm
Love of Lotus Apothecary and Farm 