Planning the Farm at Floret

we're just going to go everything's locked and rolling okay let's give this a shot um I'm nervous are you nervous I'm just got nervous so uh what is Farm planning uh like Define it as a [Music] concept you go for it you're better explain this to regular people am I a regular person I feel like Farm planning as a concept is like dichotomy is what I think of or like Polar Opposites throw it in there it's like fantasy versus reality hopefulness and Dread it's like all of the extremes yeah F planning is it's we never like it I hate planning like I hate Farm planning but I do love a good plan every decision opens up a bigger conversation where you have to like step back and ask yourself like does does this matter what is the purpose what are we seeking to learn how are we going to collect that information how much time do you want to invest in all of this stuff will this make a difference does my life matter no you're kind of and then you come back down into like we got 36 ft Farm planning for us is probably different than on a regular Farm yeah there's no predictability to it some things are a continuation of multi-year projects and other things are brand new and we're constantly like reshuffling and I'm getting out of control sure you know what some more it's the living labory what we're growing it's not just a crop that goes out into the world it's like a crop of information it's like data is it a film is it a book is it a course it's like what will all of this become when we're planning we're actually asking all of those questions whatever you decide it kind of it sets the trajectory of the year so don't screw it up it's so like no pressure no but it all starts with a plan all starts with the farm plan yeah and we haven't started the it all starts once we start yeah we're here now here we are today's the day we're going to start [Music] today oh boy it's going to go off the rails now the meadow we have 48 and we can fit about 40 okay we also have some that have special features okay they're 19 of those I think when it comes to farm planning the process is the same regardless of your space you do need to start with what you have to work with how big is this field block how many rows can fit in it how long are those rows yeah is it okay to move the plum I think so and then what are all the plants that are part of each project right we begin with all the numbers M and then your goals don't limit yourself like dream big really like start with all the things you can think of and then you can trim from there versus the opposite do you feel like good about that mhm okay you're great with the math I'm horrible with math that's the only math I know is plant math yeah cuz that's all I care about 90 feed times 12 in the plan comes from reconciling each side you know what you have to work with and what you want and then it's exactly and then you come out with the plan yeah sounds easy it'll take us 3 to four days probably what are all those pieces of paper these represent trees yellow post it's are trees and then we're going to play the game of where do they go come on if we have to go through all of the supplies that we use for Farm planning okay game on maybe put a star next to if it's show okay and then I'll start at the top okay okay sharp number two pencils okay uh ruler oh I was going to say ruler super sticky 2 by two posess like a rodent's like making a nest that's just me the big easel pads gritted and plain glue stick tape toner for toner for the printer yep notebook so many spiral notebooks so many notebooks good pens pilot favorite brand yeah G7 or G10 s 10's nice too 10 is nice time and a place um potato chips oh potato chips I like plain salted same barbecue is also good but it will give you a headache if you only eat those right stay away from the Doritos don't eat mix nuts I okay you just like too money like all what else last year's records breeding binders you're dorky Trapper Keepers so dorky yeah oh pencil sharpener electric manual is that even a question spreadsheets paper so much paper mhm so much paper that's kind of the best part though I know that's the part I love oh man we're such paper people you look at it and you're like wa it's like a beautiful mind but it's really just two bozos with a bunch of posted I think it's the physical act of like cutting things out of paper or writing it on the wall it helps make sense for my brain me too like if I see my handwriting or Jill's handwriting my mind grabs onto it I think it's embracing the way that you're wired oh that's not too many pages this is not it oh I'm like w that close the table nice try I thought it was going to be simple and small planning to farm is hard I think that we over complicate everything I think a pencil and a piece of graph paper and a tape measure and just [Music] start okay Graham's gift is another Studio potential this crab apple blooms for over a month Graham's gift will reach a mature height of 20 ft that doesn't sound bad don't you think I mean if it tastes like little Golden Delicious apples you like to eat grams Erin is wired for a lot she can do a lot she can have a lot of plates spinning at the same time she's just wired that way how the heck are we going to [Music] choose this is so cool so I get so much joy out of seeing aon's [Music] joy I love just the adventure of this where I can just see her light up about like collecting 500 plants of some kind she just has to do this thing she has to learn about it and close the loop and I love that like I've always wanted to be in super super support of that I ask people today what do they want to know about cow apples cuz they always ask me questions overwhelmingly they said why do you like them that's what people say to me too what's the deal what yeah why do you like crab apples like why crab apples they because they are a tree for all seasons is why I love that right you know what I like about CB apples what they're pretty and to me they're low maintenance yeah sometimes it's like like it's like a lot it can be a lot remember you used to talk about Chris as like the when you're scanning at the grocery store and like the light turns green yeah like that's the kind of the dynamic if Chris has blessed it like the light turns green this is all going to affect him and he's going to be the one that makes sure that all these plants survive and the green houses get designed and built the soil is I mean we have amazing help here on the farm but Chris is really the one who's going to like make sure that all that stuff comes off like it's supposed to so it kind of starts with like how much does he feel like we can take on I do help put some boundaries around some of our plans but I never ever want to like put the kabash on anything okay I always want to be like let's go for it let's try and do that I just I feel like I get a lot of payoff in who I am just supporting that I feel like that's kind of key so maybe we want let's read Graham's gift one more time why I you're so into this let's plan in the laundry room can I throw in a load yeah okay I guess i' I've got some questions we I think we all do I I know I do unicorn pinks Eric is really involved in the breeding work and in the seed saving he's cleaned every single variety that we've grown and some of them we have one seed okay here's stubby squid which has one seed stubby squid let's see that where's the seed the one seed oh my gosh so Eric's like essentially preparing everything and collecting all the numbers so that we know what we have to work with there's a lot of seed the bigger question in the planning is what should we cut out which is the harder question what should we move forward with is probably the easier question cuz there's a lot of things that we're excited about but we had over hundred selections this year and we just can't possibly go forward with everything or maybe we could but we couldn't do that year after year after year this time is both for dreaming and for editing and it's both equally important you're just like looking for like one seed mhm the editing is the harder the harder [Music] part got a sunflower seed in there sunflower seed it's like the bonus pack yeah seej cleaning the seeds yet no this is the bigger go time for me definitely like I've been cleaning seed since October getting Sam trained a little bit he's been cleaning dollia seed um but you know it's mostly just me and a and a WI a wizard here's Chris's Rainbow by P Cactus that's right you can just attach Chris's rainbow to anything and it'll be like right it'll be amazing it's a stand out y Sam's just like buzzing in the background he's helping us figure out all of the supplies that we're going to need so if I say okay here are all the seeds I want to sew and this is how many of each he will then go and figure out how many trays we need how many cubic feet of potting soil fit in x amount of trays how to calculate how many cups of fly larvae each week to order everything that we need in order to take a plant from seed all the way to harvest of all the hoops and the shires the 76 or whatever of those then we take away 10 or 12 say 12 that opens up 12 for something else but then if we had 70 something isolations right right and I don't want to build any more Hoopes I promis Chris we wouldn't do that like no our construction just for a year but then just for a year but then we going where they going to go yeah but the year started a year ago yeah I I might back out on my promise uh the other thing about Farm PL here is that it has like it has changed every year what we're what we're focusing on what we're doing so we always go into it just kind of wondering like what is it going to be this year you got the one rescue yeah I got the one rescue these names are fabulous Prime Time know it's like Prime Time hunting season was there a deer candy uh that one I thought did we not get deer candy maybe not what are you guys doing we are Gathering up all the trees that are getting planted in the new Orchard these are all the super duper heirloom rare almost one extinct varieties that I got they're crab apples what is the lowest moment you guys have had during Farm planning starting over yeah that's happened a few times mhm like you really get into it and you realize that bit off way more than you could chew or you got to go back to the beginning right that's hard it's really hard and I think that the starting over happens when you're trying to take too many factors into account yeah cuz it's like you can't hear your own voice it's a lot of trees man it's so much work you better be lit up about it yeah we better be lit up about it we're going to be crawling through the bushes all season I know I know okay for me the big goals this season are to take each one of the plant collections roses lilu daffodils crab apples those are the big guys and really hone in and organize them and document them and like really like make them a thing mhm yeah that's all we got that 141 okay 25 32 then when it comes to breeding just get deeper into the process and really document the process so that we can share how we're doing it with others [Music] I think the last one would be it's been about four or 5 years since we took on the process of making the farm a place it is a place now but some of the decisions we made early on I don't agree with [Music] anymore it's time to edit and refine the farm [Music] it's a bit of a dance it is a dance it is the sifting though it's like we start big and then one layer and one layer one layer and then yeah it's from the tiniest detail to the biggest picture vision of like how do we want to change the world and what color postage should I use blue I going to say green super sticky yeah planning the farm for the season is like painting a masterpiece for me planting the farm for the season is like going into a cave and then seeing if you can get out but not really like you kind of go into this dark place and then chew your leg off maybe and you hope you survive until someone comes in and finds you every time I do we do get into it I wonder are we going to get ourselves out of this right are we going to come out with a p and I'm always confident that we will I think I waver you waver I know that this is part of the process to expect this you think we're going to die yeah so I started chewing your leg off yeah it's not your leg it's my leg I'm hungry we're out of chips congratulations so we're taking the seeds over to the barn we have our seed Towing spreadsheet done we have all of our little spreadsheets and tickets and everything to tape down on the map and we're like it's a wrap it's a wrap 24 Farm planning they have to start sewing seeds in like 3 days yeah hey we did it we did it I thought we should high five yeah don't miss hey everybody let's do it [Music]

Channel: Floret Flower Farm

Views: 39,337

Keywords: Floret, flowers, cut flowers, flower farm, Erin Benzakein

Id: bWwrh3_tlh0

Length: 19min 47sec (1187 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2024