Planting peach seeds: How we started Peachy Keene
Hi! My name is Katelyn Keene, and I am the owner and creator of Peachy Keene Flower Farm. Our farm was started in April 2020, during the worldwide coronavirus shutdown. I’ve had some crazy ideas before, but this one takes the cake.
I’ve always had a fascination with plants and flowers. I grew up helping my parents and grandparents in their gardens, and recently went through our local Master Gardeners class to improve my knowledge of horticulture. I actively collect houseplants and gardening manuals, and while I can admit that it’s getting a little crowded, I will never say that there are too many haha.
Our farm started off with a conversation between my mom, Kristina, and her boss, John Kovarcik (Ultimate Turf). Last fall, John had noticed that some of the dahlias he planted were exhibiting strange variegated patterns in their leaves, and new growth was becoming distorted. Over the winter, he researched what could be causing the problems and discovered that the affected plants had contracted the dahlia mosaic virus (DMV). Since DMV is easily spread by tools through open wounds on a plant, John made the decision to throw away the tubers and start with fresh stock to prevent spreading it to other plants. He wasn’t sure how many plants had been infected or which ones, so all of them were slated to be thrown away as a precaution. My mom saw this as a huge waste and a giant plant adoption opportunity. Since the majority of the plants likely hadn’t been exposed to the virus, she asked if she could have them. Our flower beds are already filled to the brim with plants, yet she always finds a way to tuck more in somehow. John was happy to have a place to drop off the tubers and pulled into our driveway with 440 plants.
FOUR HUNDRED AND FORTY PLANTS.
There was no way all of those cool cats and kittens were just getting tucked into the beds.
It took four of us - my parents, John, and I - to unload the giant trailer of plants into our garage. We had the pots of dahlias stacked three tall with an area that took up roughly the perimeter of a car. My parents and I looked at each other in disbelief and bewilderment as we stood there trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do with so many plants. We debated giving them away to friends and family, but knew that we would need to warn and educate them about the virus. This also eliminated the potential of setting up a roadside stand to sell the tubers. We didn’t have the space for them in any of our flower beds, but one of John’s comments made the idea bulb go off in our heads to start a flower farm. John said that he had regularly seen dahlias be sold at farmers markets in four stem bundles for $10 each. I saw my dad running the numbers in his head as I was trying to stay calm at the thought of owning my own business at 23/doing something that I’m super passionate about/remembering that my boyfriend, Paul, had been encouraging me to start a flower shop for over a year. In short order, we agreed to keep the plants and start a flower farm.
We knew the plants would have to be started in the pots and regularly monitored for signs of the virus, instead of planting them directly in the ground. This way, we could prevent potential contamination in the field we would later build. I worked on inventorying the varieties we had, put the majority of the tubers back into storage due to lack of space, and started 71 tubers in a makeshift greenhouse that my dad helped me build in the garage. I mentally referred to this group of tubers as The Funky Bunch and treated them like a science project. This whole experience has been my own stab at a large scale research project, and having worked in a research team for most of college, it’s honestly made my science nerd heart so happy. I’ve recorded weeks of growth data, observations, and taken hundreds of pictures to document the progress we’ve been making. My goal is to analyze my data more thoroughly over the winter to make models and predictions for how to improve my growing season next year.
My friends have laughed that I went to school for seven years to become a chemist, then turned around and became a farmer. I look around outside and see the biggest lab I’ve ever worked in. It’s filled with sunshine and fresh air, and I am continually studying, researching, reading, planning, and training on one thing or another. And the math! I still do a ton of math and more conversions than I had anticipated. In my opinion, farmers are the original scientists, and I feel like I’ve really achieved my goal of wanting to play with and study dirt all day. Life is great!
We now have a greenhouse that my family helped me build, we potted an additional 900 tubers that John gave us, built a low tunnel to keep them warm and safe, and created a 5,000 square foot plot to plant everything in. My mom’s other boss, Jim Doan (owner of Ultimate Turf and Doan’s Landscape), delivered 60 yards of compost to help us get started making the plot. Without John and Jim, none of this would even be possible, and we are sincerely grateful for all of their help and generosity. We covered the compost with a few inches of wood chips, per John’s suggestion to follow the Back to Eden Gardening method. Next up, we’ll be installing 220 t-posts and 1,000 feet of drip irrigation to create the rows. After that, the healthy dahlias will be planted in the rows and corralled with bailing twine around the t-posts.
Our goal for this year is to sell cut flowers. We’ve got plans to build a roadside flower bar, and we’re hoping to develop relationships with local farmers markets, florists, and wholesalers. In the span of three months, we’ve radically changed the look and functionality of my parents’ backyard and gained a business venture, a ton of plants, a greenhouse, a low tunnel, and a big appreciation for nice weather and rain. I am so excited to share more of our journey, and I hope that you’ll enjoy seeing the updates as we have them! Thank you so much for being a part of our story!
-Katelyn