November news from the farm
The nights draw in
Or how are you doing with the shortening of the days and the tide of dark hours slowly covering up the sands of each day?
The changing seasons
If you’ve followed Common Farm Flowers for years you’ll know I’m not a fan of winter. I spend autumn stuffing myself, fattening myself up, and by November I feel a strong urge to hibernate. Do you too feel physically driven to act differently according to how much light there is in the day? In summer I am wide awake and ready to go by 5am. It’s light - why would I waste time in bed when there’s lots to do and vitamin D to bathe in while I’m at it? I’m writing this on 25th October and tomorrow the clocks fall back and I’m very happy I get an hour longer in bed. It’s at this time of year, when I’ve actively fattened myself up, that all I really want to do is sleep.
And of course that doesn’t really go with running a small business does it?
I find that if I recognise the animal behaviour in me I’m much kinder to myself. My season finishes officially at the end of September, but there are always a few commissions through October to use up the last of the flowers. (Now I stop typing and look up the weather forecast for next week, conscious that a faithful client has booked a final mixed bucket for a party they’re throwing on 31st October - I’ve looked, I think we’ll be fine - no frost incoming yet.) And I always find October unusually busy. It’s always the same when there’s a change of pace in the year. I have to wind up one activity, remind myself how to do another, often learn a third. And so has been October 2025.
I’m grateful therefore for the me-management skills I’ve learned from coach Alice Armstrong Scales who was a great guest on our live chat for the club last week. She has me rolling out of bed despite my desire to hibernate. The habits ingrained now of heading up the field even before the light outlines the trees on the eastern edge of the field are strong. TeaCake and I shushing through the fallen leaves, the air sneeze-cold in our noses, rubber boots galumphing, neither of us wanting to be outside, but habit bringing up the questions while the dog does what she needs to do: what am I grateful for? As I turn back and look east, searching for the light, what is my intention today? And then back to find the kettle’s boiled and the coffee I spooned into the pot is soon poured into a cup. Ten minutes scribbling the thoughts now whirring in my head into a notebook so that I can organise what I need to do if I’m to be the person I decided when I set my intention up the field. And I find that those rhythmic repeated steps have set the machine of the day to work. The cogs that will turn the hours until I dive back into my bed have enough momentum now to keep turning until it’s dark again.
Demos and workshops still to come this year
Good to keep those cogs turning, because, as I said, this small business doesn’t stop just because the fresh flower season is over. We have plenty more demos coming up before the end of the year. I highly recommend our wreathing demos because a home made wreath is INFINITELY more pleasurable to hang on your door than one made by somebody else. And if you enjoy making a wreath then you might find you’d like to make lots and sell them too to people who don’t know how to make their own.
And ranunculus - I know lots of pro flower growers have started their first ranunculus crop already. But I don’t want to fight too much cold and wet through the winter and I only need mine to start flowering in April, so my ranunculus and anemone demo is coming up soon so that you too can grow some of these beauties too - again, you may find you grow too many - this is often how a flower farmer is born.
Talking of new flower farmers, our online career change day is sold out in November, but we have scheduled more for 2026 (in February and November). You can also do this session in person at the farm in March if you prefer and are able to travel to Somerset. We’ve changed the name (to freshen up the web content to keep the search engines happy,) but it’s the same principle: a day in which you look at what flower farming might be for you, what kind (there are many possibilities) of flower farmer you might be, how much land you need (surprisingly little,) what kind of expertise, how you might frame flower farming to fit your life and skill set. Flower farming is not an easy life, but it’s interesting, it’s possible to make a living if you’re prepared to take it seriously, and every flower you grow sustainably feeds your environment as well as your bank account so it’s a worthwhile way to work even a relatively small pocket of land.
Our club live chats
Of course our club live chats (for our paid subscribers) continue to the end of term with the brilliant Arthur Parkinson joining us for this term’s book club session. He’s just brought out a new book ‘Hen Party,’ all about how to keep chickens, inspiring and enabling in equal measure, and illustrated with his own gorgeous quirky paintings. We’ll talk about writing, about the urge to write books, the process of being published, how to choose a subject (or does the subject choose the writer?) and much more. I know it’ll be as interesting and engaging a session as the previous guests we’ve had on our live chats, marketeer Frou McGarey (catch up here), Peat Free campaigner and wild garden designer Jack Wallington (catch up here), and renowned personal development coach Alice Armstrong Scales (linked above). I’ve got some great guests lined up for next term’s lives too so the Club here keeps going from strength to strength.
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