Business closed

Well, after five years of growing Gerbera's we have sold the business. Not as a going concern, but we've sold off various parts of the business including the plants. In part it was because the property is up for sale. We knew when we went into business with our daughter and son in law, that as it was on their property we might have to face the fact that they might want to move on.

And so it is - that their property has been up for sale for some months now. The real estate market is rather interesting at the moment - there are far more properties on the market right now as the high interest rates and the challenges within the finance industry hurt many potential home buiyers.

In any case, we've come to enjoy the late mornings sleep ins - in the past we were always up early. At least three or four days a week we'd be up around 5 am to pick flowers and do other work on the farm. Now we don't need to!

But it does mean that we will be looking for alternative income sources - after a break.

My love affair with the beautiful colourful flowers is not over. But I will not have to worry about farming them any more. I still peer into the flowers in the florists to gauge the quality of the flowers - we still see diseased flowers about. Some of them would never have been sent out from Gough Hill Farm - but others seem to find a place for them in their product for market.

I do miss not having my flowers in the house - although having been in China for nearly five months, and going back again, I'll have to find another way to enjoy fresh flowers in my loungeroom.

Who knows what the future holds???

Cold weather - has it gone?

Cold weather has resulted in a dramatic loss of gerbera flower production over the past few weeks. However, a few days ago the weather warmed up and we have had a few warmer days - Thursday it was 26 degrees, and yesterday 27 degrees, so the plants should perk up a little.

We will know this morning as we go in for another pick. We picked 220 flowers on Wednesday - up by 70% on the previous pick, so we are hopeful of supplying all the florists this coming week.

In a few days there should be signs of new bud growth, and more new leaves, and we will have to spend time removing the old leaves and making sure there is good light into the crown of the plant.

We are headed for spring, so things should really heat up weather wise, and production wise.