Our Farm is situated on the edge of the Willamette Valley and the foothills of the Cascades near historic Brownsville, Oregon. The total size of the farm is 10 acres of which 2.5 acres are currently used to produce our flowers. The remaining acreage is used to pasture sheep and for hay. We are a seasonal grower of cut-flowers. This means that each of the flower crops and varieties we raise are available only during the periods of the year that correspond to their optimum light and ambient temperatures. E.g. we only have ranunculus March-early May. When the temperatures heat above 80 deg. daytime the ranunculus season is over.
We are not organic certified however, we use sustainable organic practices in all our growing. For our field grown flowers we are transitioning all the beds to a no-till natural farming method. No-till on our farm means that we do not disturb the soil ecosystem with tillage. We use a variety of different cover cropping systems depending on the time of year and the particular needs of the soil.
Our objective is to raise a nutrient rich plant that is as healthy and robust as possible. We seek to mineralize the soil with full spectrum of soil minerals. The right mineral PH and organic nutrient balance enables the soil biology to function at its peak and thus our flowers to reach their maximum. Our belief is that healthy soils equal healthy plants which provide for vibrant, strong long-lasting blooms.
We do have several high tunnels custom-built by us. These tunnels are used for season extension of our crops. Many times in the valley the temperatures are more than adequate to raise beautiful flowers but the cold rains(sometimes hail and wind too) of early Spring and mid-late Fall can make raising a quality flower unpredictable. These tunnels enable us to take total advantage of day-length and ambient temperatures and in many cases can add several additional weeks to our season.
