The Flower are Back!

Yep, the flowers are blooming and the bouquets are back!
Since I'm not doing the markets regularly this year, the only place to get your hands on them is as part of Hoot Owl Farms CSA or Farm Stand boxes. 
You order them, then I pick the freshest most beautiful blooms, bunch them together and you get to pick them up from Hoot Owl.
As the season moves forward some flowers will fade and begin to set seed (yay!) and other will begin to show their own true colors. Each different and unique and beautiful.

The green still lingers as the Elk and White Tails (and me) make their trails across the field, but soon the meadow flowers begin and the green will make way for some of the other colors

The Ranunculus are just beginning. They may look delicate but they are a hardy plant that can tolerate light frosts and have an exceptionally long vase life. Usually they are dug up each fall so their corms won't rot in the frozen soil but I missed some and and they overwintered under our deep snow like champs!

The Lupin are the first showy bloom to pop so look for these as the feature in any bouquets! You can add them on to your regular CSA pickup from Hoot Owl or get them with a Farmstand Box, but that's the only way you'll find them at the markets this year.

There are always beautiful flowers around, if you know where to look and don't judge so much whether it is called a 'weed' or not. This handful is a mix of filed grasses, weedy wildflowers, and some Sweet Rocket. A deliciously sweet fragrant pale lavender biennial bloom in the mustard family. I had actually forgotten that I had planted out their rosette of basal leaves last summer and you bet I'm gonna use the easily spreading nature of most mustards and let some of this go to seed and begin to 'grow itself' in the perennial rows. Letting the plants grow and spread where they want to is an intentional part of my Wilderness Farm. I still have to 'weed' the slower growing or more tender crops but a lot of those weeds end up in bouquets or my dinner plate!

The Pansies and Violas are showing their true colors now so al so look for some of the Edible Petal Power Flowers available as a CSA add-on or as part of a Farmstand Box from Hoot Owl Farm. They perk up a blah salad or risotto like nothing else!

Next week, keep an eye out for the return of the Salad Mix at the Farm to Market Store in Libby. It's been a little slow growing in this cool damp spring but the fresh sunshine and warmth that is helping the plants to bloom is also freshening up this tasty, crispy lettuce and it's almost ready for it's return!

The rain have meant I haven't had to worry that much about irrigation (which is a pleasant reprieve for me) and it means some special farm friends get to hang around (as long as they can hide from the hungry hens!)

The kittens are great on-the-job learners! They average two gophers/shrews/mice a day! And the tall grass in the growing plots and field gives them protection and shelter while they work

What's available this week? 

• Flowers!
  • Mixed Bouquets featuring Lupines
    • only available through Hoot Owl Farm's CSA or Farmstand
  • Edible Petal Power Flowers
    • only available through Hoot Owl Farm's CSA or Farmstand
• Veggies!
  • Mild Mix Microgreens
  • Spicy Mix Microgreens
    • both available at the Amish Farm to Market Store in Libby

Where to find it all?
Find the Veggies & Flowers at the Amish Farm to Market Store in Libby!

Seasonal Bouquets and Edible Flowers are available through Hoot Owl Farms CSA/Farm Stand