Thoughts from the Hill

I am a list maker. I have paper lists, app lists, sticky note lists, notebook lists, and at least six highly important mental lists that disappear the second I walk into a room. Naturally, Year One of Thistle Hill Flower Farm deserves a list too.

So far, here’s what my smooth brain has managed to retain:

1. Deer are not a possibility. Deer are a certainty. They will arrive. They will eat your flowers unless personally offended enough not to.
2. Flower cages work beautifully… right up until the flowers grow through them and become trapped in their own tiny metal prisons. Also, the deer can still eat them.
3. Cucumber beetles apparently find sunflower leaves absolutely irresistible. Current mission: remove tiny villains without harming the good bugs.
4. Hose stakes? Fantastic invention. No notes.
5. Companion plants should probably have been started indoors approximately seventeen years ago. By the time they’re large enough to discourage deer, the sunflowers may already be inspirational stubs.
6. Open seed packets belong in labeled ziplock bags. Otherwise, you too may experience the unique rage of spilling flower seeds throughout the backseat of your car for the third time.

Every time I drive up the hill to check on the flowers, I have to remind myself: this is Year One. This year is for learning. And as long as I’m learning, I haven’t failed.

Honestly, I think that’s true for more than just flower farming.