How did this all begin anyway?
- Tracy Gardiner
- Jan 1
- 2 min read
For all those who are new here let me introduce ourselves-we are the Gardiner’s! Haha, yes that is right, Matt and Tracy Gardiner. We started this small farm about 15 years ago because we love the holiday season so much and we had extra land to utilize. We thought selling Christmas trees would be a perfect way to enjoy the holiday and become part of many family traditions that we enjoyed so much. It was a simple idea right?
We planted our first 250 seedlings and planned to “open” in about 10 years to friends and family with the intention to keep growing. With the idea started, we tried to think of ways to get people here while we waited on those trees to grow.
Meanwhile, one of my aunts had given us a packet of sunflower seeds so we threw those in the ground and didn’t think about them again. The season went on, the sunflowers grew. We didn’t know it at the time (as most never do), this little seed packet was the start of something…that summer we launched our very first farm stand.
Over the years, we have had the best teacher-Mother Nature and she was sure to show us that no two seasons would be the same. We kept showing up each season, planting trees by the thousands for about 6 consecutive seasons. Each year, carefully trimming, weeding and taking care of the seedlings. Unfortunately, we realized that our soil wasn't really the best after being mono-cropped for so many years prior to us living here. Being first generation farmers was hard enough and trying to learn how to bring the soil and our acreage back to life, was a lot more than we expected.
We don’t actually know who stopped and bought the first flower…maybe it was YOU?
Come back to read the next post on what exactly happened after the trees decided not to thrive here.
Until next time...
Rooted in patience, growing beauty one season at a time,
— Tracy
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