And Sow We Grow

47 towers planted, 650 seeds starting and 200 seedlings almost ready to transplant...

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Now all we have to do is grow!!! 🌱

If only life were so simple! We are officially at every stage of growth at Leafy Dreams but as much as I wish we could spend every second playing with our lovely little plants and telling them how wonderful they are (everyone knows talking to and playing music for your plants is imperative to their health!) there is still so much more work to be done! We are tracking the time it takes for every individual seed to go through the different stages of growth as well as the yields we are able to get out of each tower. Every seedling has to be spaced appropriately for maximum growth and we have to perfect the lighting and watering systems to our needs to keep every single plant happy and healthy when we are not down at the farm. We have price lists to complete, and every day we are learning something new about our perfect little farm and everything we are planting in it. We have garlic and onions to plant outside to prepare for next spring and the exterior of our farm to complete, or at the very least make sure it is sealed up nice and tight before the cold really sinks in.

But the very best thing about where we are today is the simple fact that every day is another day to grow our dream together! Nick and I have faced all kinds of challenges, wins, and losses from working together previously, moving to another state together and building the relationship we have today. We have had some knock out, blow out arguments over the absolute silliest things while we have stumbled our way through starting Leafy Dreams LLC but we have learned so much from each other and we have grown together while we've been growing Leafy. We have always leaned on each other to get through the good times and the bad times and we both have an incredible, never wavering belief in one another. It is that belief that keeps us dreaming bigger, planning the next stage of growth and pushing forward to build Leafy Dreams into something we haven't even dreamed up yet!

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The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. The colors are fading from the brightest pinks and greens of summer and changing into the auburns and oranges of fall. The leaves are putting on their annual show of brilliance and the sunsets line the skies like the final fires of summer. We're adding jackets and hats to our late nights of working and blankets and hoodies to the few short hours of sleep we get on our weekends at the farm. Yet inside the farm we have all of the warmth and sunshine of a bright summer day! It is sure to continue to be a favorite place throughout the bitter cold months to come, an escape from the brutally chill of Iowas winters.

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Within the next 6 weeks or so we will be able to start sharing our produce with family and friends, plus a few others where we plan to drop samples of what we are offering to finally start to get our dream out into the world. We will have a variety of herbs and lettuces, followed by salad mixes and herb bundles. Our first round of produce to share will be half the capacity of our farm as we want to be able to test as many products as possible to ensure we are only providing the best possible produce for our community. We will ask for feedback, we want to know what the favorite varieties of everything we offering are. We only want to provide the very, very best!!

Moving into this stage of our dream is beyond exciting for us, and with that we are so excited to share what we have in our first towers!

The leafy: Varieties of; Kale, Arugula, spinach, Henderson black seed and Landis Winter lettuces.

The herbs: Varieties of Thyme, Cilantro, Sage, Basil

Also featuring: Giant Red Mustard and Radicchio.

Of course we also have a couple hundred heads of Romaine coming in right behind!

We are so excited to be able to share what's to come with all of you! We will be reaching out to several of you about sampling some of you to help us decide on our final crops which we will focus on moving forward. Almost all of our seeds are from Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds and we couldn't be happier with the results we are seeing this far!! If you, or someone you know is interested in receiving some of our sample rounds, and are located on either the greater Des Moines area or SE Warren County, please reach out to myself or Nick directly! We will share as many samples as we can! We are truly grateful to everyone who has sent love and support and continues to root for us day after day and we couldn't possibly be more excited to share our Leafy Dream with you!

Thank you all for continuing to follow along with us, we wouldn't have made it to where we are today without each and every one of you!!

Until next time Friends,

Stay Leafy 🥬