Cool Cache Farms
. . . A Cut Above
July 13th
We participated in our first farmers market, and it was a lot of fun. We also were fairly successful. The Shirley Temples are mostly in the cooler, and we do have some left. We also have Kansas, Festiva Maximas, Duchess De Namours, and Big Bens for sale. The Sarah Bernhardts are just starting to be picked as well.
July 30th
The pick finished on the 23rd. We are now chilling the buds
in the cooler, and they are ready to send to anyone who
orders. We will have peonies in reducing amounts available
until around August 23rd.
August 21
We are still selling out of our cooler. Our buds are down to
the fuchsia pinks of the Kansas, and the bubblegum pinks
of the Sarah Bernhardts. We probably have one week left
of these buds. We hydrate them for 24 to 48 hours before
shipping to give them strength for their journey, and make
sure they will perform for our customers. We have found that marketing is the tough part of selling these beautiful buds. We kinda have the farming part down. So this winter will be devoted to market development.
September 24th
Our last peonies to sell were our Kansas variety, and we sold them all on the 11th of September. It was good year, all things considered. With loosing about 400 of our
roots, and having another 400 stunted by last year's weird winter, we harvested less than we hoped to have. We are now planting our Pechers, which are a blush, and replanting some of our Bowl of Creams. We went to Delta Junction and purchased about 4000 lbs. of straw. We plan to mulch our more delicate and newly planted varieties. It was 24 degrees Fahrenheit last night, so we need to get our remaining roots into the ground.
December 31st
A New Year has arrived! This has been quite an adventure. With the loss of production, we still had over 3,000 stems. This year we will be on a big push to develop more market share. We are currently in New Orleans, and seeing many florists. Every one has been very receptive, and excited that our prices are less than what they are buying peonies from their wholesalers!
2015 Peony News
July 4th: Happy Independence Day!
The winter of 2014-15 was a very weird winter. We had very little snowfall, and very warm temperatures. The snow that fell, stayed in one third of our field, turned to ice in one third of the field, and completely disappeared in one third of the field. The part covered with ice lost two thirds of the roots in that section. The good news is, the rest of the field is coming on in good shape. We currently have the bright fuchsia pink Kansas buds in the cooler, and we will soon be harvesting, the Shirley Temples and the Festitva Maximas.
