Time flies when you’re racing against the sun to get everything planted out! We weren’t able to start planting out the warm-weather crops of the flower farm until the very, very end of the month since we had several late frosts right in a row. Once the 10-day forecast showed we were the in the clear, however, it has been go time ever since, which is the reason why I’m publishing my June goals so late. Of course, even though we’ve been putting in several hours a day to prep and plant beds, we STILL aren’t done yet, which means that this next week is looking pretty crazy, too!
May was busy for other reasons too, like the kids wrapping up their school years (and the accompanying graduation/end-of-year programs that come along with that) and Raven playing softball for the first time, which has meant that we have games twice a week to attend plus practice on top of that. No complaints though — it’s been a fun kind of busy, and it’s been rewarding to see Raven’s athleticism start to build up and to enjoy everything that she and Mathias learned in their respective school years, too.
As for Hyrum, well…we just try to keep him out of mischief since he seems to have the greatest tendency out of our three kids of getting into it 🙂
May Goals
Do something to celebrate our 11th anniversary- Hmmm….kinda? We did do a really fun family date out to eat and to a park after, but I wanted to squeeze in a date, too. That didn’t quite happen, but we still enjoyed celebrating 11 years together!
Publish Summer Reading List post- Super excited about the Summer Reading List I’ve put together for Summer 2022. If you haven’t checked that out, it’s right HERE.
Complete the other roll-up side on high tunnel- Matt ended up surprising me by squeaking this in right at the very end of the month, which wasn’t a day too soon — the temperatures have been soaring lately, so we definitely needed to be able to vent the high tunnel as much as possible so we didn’t fry the plants in it!
Build and fill last raised bed- Done and done 🙂 Plus it’s planted, too!
- Plant and/or
sellall dahlia tubers- I did do a dahlia tuber sale, but I haven’t planted out my own tubers yet, largely because we had some very late frosts.
- Plant all gladiolus corms
- I planted out about 50…now just 450 left to go 🙂
Buy landscape fabric and shade cloth- Yep, and the shade cloth is already installed (and helping the crops it’s covering immensely). We still have to lay the landscape fabric down, though.
- Start setting up drip line irrigation and watering system
- Nope. We’ve been so busy trying to plant everything out and get all the last-minute bed prep done that there just hasn’t been time.
- Transplant out first succession of all tender annuals
- Again, no. A late frost definitely set us back a bit, plus it always takes longer than I think it will to transplant out the hundreds of seedlings I’ve been growing in my basement for months.
Compile list of pay-it-forward bouquets- As part of our flower farm’s business plan, we offer a pay-it-forward program where people can donate any amount of money, and then we collect names from people in the community of their neighbors, friends, and family members who are struggling and who could use a pick-me-up bouquet. Then, throughout the summer when we have extra flowers, we go through the list and deliver flowers to the people who were nominated. It’s definitely one of my favorite parts about being a flower farmer. (And you can participate if you want! You can Venmo any amount of money to @dreamacreflowerfarm and just write “pay it forward” in the description. All of the money goes towards providing bouquets for people in need.)
- Change over kids’ clothes to summer
- I’ve halfway done this, but that means that the kids’ drawers and wardrobes are a wreck, since a couple of them are also switching to a bigger size period and since I still need to rotate out all the winter stuff. This is always such a project, so I inevitably end up putting it off until I no longer can!
Hang curtains and blinds back up- We still need to put the blinds back up in our master bedroom, but they are up everywhere else where we replaced the windows.
- Go through pantry
and fridgeand clear out expired food/stuff we won’t eat- I knew it would be a stretch to get this done, and sure enough, I didn’t quite get around to it. However, I did do a rudimentary fridge clean-out, so at least there’s that.
- Finish editing photo session
- I edited about a dozen pictures of the photo session I did for my brother and sister-in-law, but I need to finish the rest. Rollover goal.
- Fix doorbell
- I reeeeeally need to make sure we prioritize this in June!
Get Buick working again+ list- Welp, we got the Buick working again…and now the car horn blares every time you turn it on and won’t shut off. Joy.
June is set up to be an exciting month, and one that we’ve been looking forward to for awhile. The reasons are three-fold:
First, the flower farm will be completely planted out by about the 11th or so, which will free up a LOT of time for me since I’ll no longer be having to tend seedlings or worry about planting out before the heat of the day hits. The only things we’ll have to stay on top of are harvesting for bouquets to sell, weeding, and watering everything. I will have some succession plantings of some things, but nearly all of those will be direct sown into the ground, which is a lot easier than having to tend seedlings inside for a month or so.
Second, my dad is flying out to visit for the first time since before COVID hit, and I’m really excited for all the family time. My dad’s never even met Hyrum, so that will be especially fun!
Third, the Hawaii trip we’ve had in the works for literally years is finally happening this month! I’m a little stressed out about everything that needs to happen before that, but I’m excited that we’re finally going to be able to go and have a relaxing time together. We’ll need it after the craziness of the spring!
June Goals
- Enjoy Hawaii!
- Our biggest thing going on in June is our long-awaited Hawaii trip! We’d planned to take it all the way back in 2020, but then COVID hit literally about 10 days before we were supposed to fly out. We’re all super excited, although I’ll admit I’m kind of dreading all the prep work and the actual travel itself. (Any tips on flying with small children are appreciated!)
- Do something fun to celebrate Mathias’s birthday
- Another fun thing for this month is that Mathias turns 4. We kind of have a lot going on that weekend, but we’re hoping to squeeze in something fun to make his day special.
- Sign up two older kids for swim lessons
- I definitely wanted to get this done before we left for Hawaii, and luckily for me, there’s a session happening at just the right time.
- Get everything planted out
- Rollover goal.
- Plant all gladiolus corms
- Rollover goal.
- Plant all dahlias
- Rollover goal.
- Order gift certificates for flower farm
- I’ve now had multiple people wondering if we offer any kind of gift certificates or anything for the flower farm. Time to take the hint!
- Change over kids’ clothes to summer
- Rollover goal.
- Order contacts
- I tried wearing contacts a few times back when I first got glasses about 15 years ago, but I didn’t love them so I didn’t ever bother getting more when my prescription changed about two years ago. I want to give them another shot though, so I’m going to order some through Costco this month and see what I think.
- Finish editing photo session
- Rollover goal.
- Start setting up watering system
- Rollover goal.
- Figure out issue with car horn on Buick
- Matt doesn’t know if he’ll be able to DIY this one, so it’s looking like we might have to call in some outside help. We shall see.
- Fix doorbell
- Rollover goal.
- Try to sell the hot tub
- This house came with a hot tub, but we were never too crazy about it just with the kids being so small and the upkeep and the fact that we really hardly ever use it. Since it’s just sitting there at this point costing us money, we’ve decided to look into selling it and see what kind of deal we can get.
What kinds of plans do you have for June? And what are your best tips for flying/traveling with small children?
