I usually stay behind the scenes overseeing employees as well as being Seraphina’s main caretaker, but I’m excited to step out a bit and share what’s been going on at our farm lately.
Our new addition to Grace Rose Farm - a beautiful 30 acre farm - has been seeing thousands of roses blanket the field with millions of stunning blooms. It’s quite the site and even though most of the roses were transplanted earlier this year, they’re off to a great start! We also began planting thousands more roses that we received from our favorite nursery, Otto and Sons. It is amazing what it takes to setup a new field. We hired a tractor driver to till and disc the field, worked with an irrigation company to figure out the design and layout, another company constructed the fertilizer board and new irrigation lines, we consulted with an Ag company for soil and water needs, and brought in lots of labor for digging and planting. Like so many things, the planting process has taken much more time than we imagined and has become an excellent test of our patience. We’ll get it done soon and will surely celebrate once the last plant is finally in the ground.
Today was long overdue as the dogs returned to the groomer for the first time in a while. I had the “pleasure” of taking them in our van and if you’ve never been in a closed van with 300 pounds of stinky dog, you’re surely missing out. The windows couldn’t come down fast enough! While Buddy and Woody love car rides and taking turns “sitting” in the front seat to say hello to everyone/everything we pass, poor Ellie takes it easy in the back as she tends to get car sick. We’ve tried several times to have a mobile groomer come to our farm, but due to the size of our dogs, nobody has taken us on as it’s too difficult to turn them around in the mobile tubs. Correction, we did have one mobile groomer at our last farm in Santa Ynez but after she gave Buddy a mohawk and said that’s just how Great Pyrenees are, we quickly decided she wasn’t the right person for our dogs.
Finally, I’m not sure how it happened so quickly (I know all parents say that) but Seraphina is starting school soon. I’ve been her main caretaker for several months now and have enjoyed every minute with her. She’s funny, smart, curious, sweet, gentle, loving, and quite talkative. Now that’s she two, she’s more independent but hasn’t embraced the “terrible” phase (yet), thankfully. I’ve decided to be optimistic and call it the “Terrific Twos.” (Please don’t prove me wrong, Seraphina.) She and I laugh a lot throughout the day and while I’ll certainly miss having her around a few hours each day, I’m so excited that she’ll be able to interact with kids her own age. She was born at the beginning of COVID and really hasn’t had much of an opportunity to be around other toddlers. I know she’s going to have a blast running around, making new friends, and learning so much. Everyday she comes up with something new and I know this opportunity of going to school will only encourage her to grow more.
For those of you that have followed our journey for a while, you know how we are continually growing our business and figuring out our place in the rose-agriculture-floral-world. We thank you so much for your continued support and will do our best to provide these updates more often. For those of you that are new followers of our farm, we welcome you and look forward to providing a glimpse inside our life at our California garden rose farm. Ryan
