After a tremendous amount of talking and searching and way,way too much thinking about what to call our new farm, we realized that there was never going to be a perfect, bolt-of-lightning-out-of-the-sky name, and that it really didn't matter.
In looking for our name, I came across hundreds of farm names, and you know what? They are all pretty odd. Some are boring, some are obvious, some are funny, some are weird, and in the end if a farm is a great farm and has a good reputation, people will think highly of it and the name will just work.
I realize that this statement flies in the face of the work that many highly paid "branding professionals" make careers out of. I don't mean to claim that if we had fixed upon 'Rabid Flying Killer Squirrel Farm' as a name, we might not have someday come to question our decision! But I think that as long as your farm name isn't too offensive or bizarre, then it's up to you to make it work and make people connect to it and remember it.
With all this winter rain, we are learning where the wet spots on the property are...
So thanks to my brother-in-law Andy, cartographer with the U.S. Census Bureau (it is so cool to have a professional map maker in the family- we always know just where we are), we were able to agree upon a place-based name that no one else had yet registered the domain name for, 46 North Farm. Our farm's location is at roughly 46 degrees North (latitude), and 123 degrees West (longitude). There are minutes involved to make the location more exact (why are they called minutes, Andy?) which I believe are somewhere in the comments section of the last post, if you really need to know exactly where your fabulous heirloom tomato plant will be grown this year.
Yes! We are going to grow some plant starts this year Not many, and we probably won't do any markets- maybe one or two days depending on our schedules. We are talking to the Astoria Co-op about selling plants at their store, and if that doesn't work for you, we will figure out some way to get you the plants you want. I think we've figured out where to re-build the greenhouse, which will start happening soon, but in the meantime our basement is going to become the grow-light capital of Olney.
It will be a much shorter plant list this year, because we just don't have the time to do a huge run. But we will make sure to grow all our best and favourite varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, peas and beans, leafy greens, herbs and flowers. If there is a particular variety you want to make sure we are growing, ask for it now while there is still time to order seeds!
I'll post a plant list soon. In the meantime, stay warm and as dry as you can, and savor the longer days. Spring will be here before you know it.
Coming to this site soon: Greenhouse 3.0 (Or would it be 46 North Farm's Greenhouse 1.0?)
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