Since it would be foolish to pin our hopes on growing flowers in frozen fields, we prefer to spend our winter on educational (and aspirational) pursuits. Last month, we traveled to Albuquerque to join the rather expansive community of flower growers partaking in ASCFG’s North American Conference. (ASCFG is the tongue twisting acronym for the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, which—while a mouthful—is a wonderful resource for flower growers.) While there, we caught up with some local Maryland friends (shout out to Laura Beth of Butterbee, Maya of Hillen Homestead, and Elisa of Two Boots!), met some new farm folks from all over the country (and Canada!), and harnessed some intel on how to fortify the business and try new things. Some highlights:

We saw petroglyphs! There were lots of geometric shapes, some identifiable birds and animals…but sadly no flowers. It’s hard for us to fathom wanting to communicate about something that is not a flower, so this opened our eyes to the possibility that maybe not everyone thinks about flowers every minute of the day like we do. We are okay with this concept.

We hiked along the Rio Grande! Well, ‘hiking’ might be a bit of an overstatement, but the river was real. And full of Canada geese paddling along with the current and bathing in the shoals. We wondered if perhaps some of their ancestors had been immortalized as petroglyphs, but those present didn’t seem keen to give up those secrets.

We ate delicious food! We ventured beyond Old Town for some authentic Oaxacan cuisine and weren’t disappointed. Some of it was spicy…some of it was less spicy…all of it was scrumptious.

We learned some useful stuff! (Well, we did go there for a conference, after all.) We are excited to test out some new ideas, including something we know a lot of you have been asking for: u-pick experiences. Yep—it might just be happening this year! Stay tuned for more details.

We hope you all have also relished some adventures of your own since we’ve seen you last. If you (like us) find yourself getting a little angsty from the lingering snow and cold, check out our website for flowery ways to fill your days with color:

A CSA subscription that guarantees you get the best blooms from our fields week after week…
An ornamental wreath that brings the timeless beauty of outdoors to your favorite room…
Or a Belvedere gift certificate for a loved one who might also be feeling a little restless and ready for spring.

However you choose to fill out the remaining weeks of winter, rest assured that the flowers are coming soon. While we haven’t yet peeked under the row covers of the field-grown annuals (see introductory photo), the plants in the tunnels are eagerly awaiting their temperature and light cues—yep, a little nod to the conference and learning more about the science of flowering plants—to start doing their thing. See below for proof!