New Year, New Relationships

New Year, New Relationships

Each New Year I focus my energy to a single task in my business. As a multi-service entrepreneur, it is easy to put too many to-dos on my plate, so instead, I try to focus on one over-arching task each season.

Last year it was ‘learn how to raise cattle in 18 months versus 24 months’ and ‘grow my online portfolio’ in weddings.

At the end of last year, I’d completed both of these tasks but I felt more alone than ever. Now, I’m an introvert through and through, but this sense of being alone was deep, deeper than I ever thought and ever let myself recognize.

So, per usual I sat down at the end of the year, reconciled my books, looked through the data I’d collected on both the farm and weddings I’d designed for and said, ‘what’s next’. (ps. I love these ‘mundane’ tasks and usually find myself caught up in them). This year it wasn’t a black and white task that came to the forefront of my mind. It was this ‘feeling’ (which I’m not always good at recognizing) in place of a ‘learn this’ or ‘achieve this’ task.

It was the desire to form meaningful relationships.

Sure, it is easy to preach ‘know your farmer’ but I started to question what steps I’d actually taken to know people in my community. What steps had I taken to know the people who trust and buy from me? What did my stance on ‘know your farmer’ actually means to me, this introverted farmer who loves animals and gets anxious in crowds? I have fear, I lack confidence and ultimately it’s been what’s kept me from truly living what I so desperately wanted for my customers. For them to know me, their farmer.

The same became so drastically apparent in my wedding design as well. I’ve met vendors, had coffee with vendors and made some friends in the industry. I’ve serviced my brides, openly communicated with them and had a very happy experience with each of them over the course of the year. But, these people that I’ve met, had coffee with and serviced always seemed to be an arms distance away. Not because I’ve purposefully decided to keep a distance, but instead I chose to lean into what comes naturally to me as an introvert. But, ultimately as a person, I need relationships with more meaning.

I now see how vital relationships are for every person. Every introvert, every extrovert, every entrepreneur, every mother, father, sibling, and the list goes on. We all crave more meaningful relationships in our lives. I think it has become more apparent to me as an entrepreneur because so much of ‘marketing’ and ‘running a business’ seems to be done on the other side of a screen.

And while all that ‘screen time’ is necessary it’s time to practice what I preach and form relationships with you, with my readers, with my customers and clients and those who receive my weekly emails.

So, that is what 2020 is going to look like for me and this business. I’m focused on getting out of my comfort zone, getting to know all the special people that surround me and welcoming you into the pretty and not so pretty parts of running a farm and floral business. I hope to get to know you better and share more of myself with you this decade.

I’d love to meet you, and I’d like to formally welcome you to join me at an event this season. Let’s get to know each other better.

Floral | 10 Helpful Questions to Ask Your Florist

10 Questions to Ask Your Florist

You’re engaged, congrats! This is such an exciting time and while it may seem overwhelming all the details that need decisions, your floral should be a fun part of the process.

Today I’m sharing some of the top 10 questions to ask your florist during your first consultation. It is my hope that by asking these questions you can feel confident in making your floral decisions.

10 Questions to ask

1. What flowers are likely to be in season?

2. Are my floral requests in line with my budget?

3. What recommendations can you make to keep the cost within my budget?

4. Do you provide any vases/decor? If so, is there a fee for using these items?

5. Do you deliver, set up and tear down?

6. Can I send arrangements home with guests?

7. How do you coordinate delivery at different ceremony and reception venues?

8. When do you schedule tear-down?

9. How many weddings to you do per weekend? If you book multiple weddings per day how do you handle my delivery?

10. What does your booking and future communication process look like?

 save it for later

Pin it!

Homestead | Goodbye Winter

Winter 2018-2019 You’ve Been Real

I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready for the hustle, mud and lack of sleep that spring brings more than I am this year. I’m sure you can agree.

This winter was a tough one for many reasons. We started the winter three month short on hay due to the incredibly wet summer which meant I needed to buy hay in from other local farms to keep everyone fat and happy. The ice storm in January kept our driveway so slick that getting additional hay in meant either sleds or some sort of miracle. We got our miracle in the form of pot-ash (salt) from our local farm store after everyone sold out of every bag of ice-melt available the Midwest. Two hundred pounds of pot-ash made our driveway somewhat pass-able for the Bobcat. So, as I fed my very last bale of home-grown hay our delivery of additional hay came. Matt drove it down the driveway two by two, literally the very same day.

Due to the poor weather for cropping last summer hay was at a premium. So instead of small bales that are easy for me to hand-feed, we had to buy in large square bales. So, needless to say I’m not going to miss hand-feeding large squares flake by flake and I’m making plans to upgrade our small square baler instead of buying a large square baler when the time comes.

On top of the hay crisis we dealt with some extreme cold. Temperatures that dipped into -55 degrees with the wind-chill. The animals were tucked and fared well even on the coldest nights. We were blessed to be protected from such extreme wind chills here in the valley, and I’d guess we sat somewhere in the -40’s. When we bought our farm I never thought about the benefits of being ‘tucked in’, but I’m thankful we were. It sure made those cold days more bare-able.

The driveway being iced for over a month meant hauling feed, groceries and fuel for our furnace down the driveway. I used tarps to haul salt and feed when we couldn’t get a car out or down the driveway. We’ve decided to never buy a two wheel drive vehicle again.

Spring 2019, thank you for being here

So, bring on the spring. Bring on the crazy hustle. Bring on the mud. I’ve never been so ready.

Renovations | Greener Pastures

The lower pasture is done!

Did I really just get to say that?!

To give you a little background if you’re new to the party, this spring our farm was the recipient of EQUIP funding - a grant program through the USDA. The grant was for establishing pasture on our 18 acres of tillable land. It was such an incredible blessing to receive the funding to grow our operation several years before I'd even dreamed it possible. I owe a HUGE thank you to Marie who continues to help me navigate these pastures as we work to restore grazing to this land.

establishing pastures

In April I worked with our neighbor Allen, to prep the lower 18 acre field for seeding. Last season it was a corn field so there were a lot of debris that had to be mulched in order for the seed to have a good chance at establishing. 

After the field was prepped dad and I spent a morning spreading our 500 pounds of seed using a broadcast spreader mounted on Lil' Blue (my tractor). It went smoothly except for one bump and a few band-aids... sorry dad...

It couldn't have been a much better growing season, calm and frequent rainfalls speckled with days of sunshine. It was about a week and I started seeing baby alfalfa, and by the end of the season the field had good establishment on all but the sandy hillside.

fencing

Fencing this farm has been quite a project and the lower field was no exception. Old fence-lines that hadn’t been touched in decades needed to be cleared, old posts pulled and well worn wire that needed to be removed. Then it was back to planting posts, only 1/3 of which however are wood posts. I decided based on advice from Marie that we’d use composite posts for the wooded areas. That way when a tree comes down there is a slimmer chance of having the wire and post break, making mending much easier. I did leave a small property line with t-posts that were in good shape and straight so I’m hoping that stays nice for many years.

On the lower field I on a high tensile wire fence instead of the woven. It’s a cheaper fence to install and without the risk of highway I felt good about trying something different. Another perk is that the high tensile fence really disappears so our view is wide open. Since this field is most of our view from the farmhouse I wanted to make sure and keep things clean and open as much as possible.

I’m so pleased with how things turned out and I’m SO anxious to get cattle out here next season!

Homestead | Reflecting on 2018

what a challenging and beautiful year

I always wrap up my business years with a little reflection. A little Profit and Loss analyzing is usually were I start, then it’s onto what can I do to market my business better, what worked this year and what was a complete fail. This year I sat down to do the same reflecting but came up with something much different than typical. The truth is 2018 will go down in my journal as the most exhausting year of my life. I made this year exhausting, in fact I pretty much designed it that way. I took on a lot of new and really exciting things, but in the end it was too much for me and too much for the relationships I cherish the most.

So this year I’m being honest and sharing what my third year in business really looked like.

I’m exhausted.

This past year I’ve felt like I’m in a constant state of complete exhaustion and complete ambition depending on the hour of the day, sometimes literally. It’s been an exhausting roller-coaster that I’m thankful for, but one I’m ready to be done riding. I knew that taking on our homestead fixer-upper, growing a farm, growing a floral business and maintaining my existing design business would challenge me. It certainly has.

I’m an ambitious planner

I’m an ambitious planner. Meaning I make decisions months or years in advance. I plan out all the details, run all the budgets, and set out to make it happen whatever the cost to my personal well-being. It’s not something I’m always proud of but it is definitely part of my personal signature.

So, in classic fashion since we bought this homestead I’ve found myself making huge plans and have been running in a constant state of mind of ‘being behind schedule’. A schedule that I’ve decided is do-able, but one that hasn’t gone as I’d planned.

I self-impose deadlines in everything I do. I have deadlines for business projects and personal projects. If ‘project’ defines the activity it has a deadline. Deadlines usually keep me ambitious but this year they also made me very anxious.

The first deadline this year was that the cattle had to get out on pasture. I decided they HAD to get out by early May so we could save some money on hay and take advantage of a full growing season. But before that could happen we had to clear land, build a fence and over-seed a pasture. I had a deadline of 2 months, it took us 5 and for a planner like myself it was completely defeating.

This year we received a grant, which was a HUGE blessing, but came with another deadline. This time it was an end-of-the-year deadline which had to be met to receive the funding. I had it perfectly mapped out to take two months. Again, it took three instead and our weekends just kept clicking away slowly and painfully for me.

Last December I brought home a brand new set of livestock, sheep, which required adjustments to our cattle facilities to accommodate them. There are a whole set of deadlines I imposed because I decided to make this addition.

I had thought we’d for sure be completing my floral studio because it would ‘only’ take a month of weekends to get that project done. BUT instead we’ve not started it because my other deadlines have left us without spare weekends.

And like I said before every project has a deadline, so you can sprinkle in handfuls of other deadlines that have surely been missed this year.

For a person who stays ambitious by making and completing projects by the deadline this became an overwhelming and emotionally exhausting part of my year.

Even in the exhaustion I still see that this year was beautiful

Though I’ve been running on empty for what seems like most of this season there are definitely some beautiful things that have come out of this year.

One beautiful thing is I’ve learned is my limits. I’ve always been one to have a lot of kettles in the fire, a constant planner and mover. I often thrive in this environment. I’m ambitious and it’s never come back to hurt me, until this year. So I’m thankful for a year that has pushed me to the limits so I know when too much is actually too much.

I’ve figured out what truly fills me up and what exhausts me. Finally figuring this out has allowed me to refine the direction of my business so I can better balance my ‘cup’ in the future.

It’s also been a beautiful year because people have chosen to love me through my ambitious deadlines and exhausted state of mind which isn’t a pretty one I can assure you.

I owe the success of this year to three beautiful people

Another beautiful part of this year was that my business doubled in sales, even in the midst of the chaos I felt. And I can honestly say it wasn’t me that made that happen. Sure, I’ve made some significant efforts towards growing this tiny business - but I’ve never had to work an entire season from with complete mental and physical exhaustion. If it wasn’t for three incredible worker bees I wouldn’t have been able to move the needle so significantly in my business. It’s because of these three people’s support that I was able to keep my enthusiasm for growing through the exhaustion.

Matt and my parents really deserve some recognition

While I stole every weekend possible to work on projects, stole Matt’s vacation time, aged my dad a few years (or he’d probably argue more like decades), and made unrealistic deadlines that left me frustrated and often unpleasant - these three people were there for me every. single. day.

Mom cleaned the house, took care of the dog, hopped in to do hay, cared for lambs, put her own renovation project on the back burner and loved me through it all.

Dad scheduled equipment rentals, gave away his working weekends for mine, baled hay, fixed equipment, and was there every weekend to help however he was needed.

Matt pounded posts, stretched wire, baled hay, dug holes, handled livestock and was understanding that his house was a mess, that there wasn’t food on the table and supported me when he too was exhausted.

As I reflect back I have complete gratitude and incredible amounts of shame for how hard they worked for ME and MY business. They made HUGE sacrifices for me this year, too many to note, all to see my business succeed. So I want to publicly say I’m grateful for their understanding, their ‘were in this together’ attitude, their continuous support, their self-sacrifice and their unfailing love for me..

Thank You

I also want to thank YOU. If you booked me for your wedding this year, if you bought beef or lamb from me this year, if you showed up to build fence this year, if you kept in touch with me this year, if you encouraged me this year THANK YOU. Thank you for supporting this dream and I look forward to serving you from a fuller cup next year.

Also, thank you to all the friends and family of mine for understanding that I’ve been in a season of not having much left in me to give. I look forward to spending 2019 catching up, staying present and investing in our relationship.

Thanks for being here!

Renovations | Celebrating One Year at the Homestead!

we're celebrating one year

It's absolutely crazy to me how fast time flies; and when you're working hard it seems to go by even faster. Today we're celebrating one very busy, beautiful, challenging and exciting year here at the homestead. 

 we owe 1,000 thank you's

So many of our incredible friends and family have lent a hand this past year. From pulling out carpet and cleaning our house on closing day, to the seemingly endless post setting, we wouldn't be where we are today without the incredible sacrifice of our people.

So, I want to publically thank, my mom and dad, who spent nearly every moment working alongside us over the past year; you've been the best neighbors. Matt's parents, Rex and Becky for helping us paint over the awful yellow that first week and helping with electrical, plumbing, fencing and bringing us meals.

We also owe a huge thank you to the incredible people that volunteered their precious time to help us with our dream... Jarrett, Elise, Morgann, Kaleb, Erin, Joe, Ross, Danielle, Ricky, Grandpa, Sarah, Bethany, Tim, Jack, Jesse, Ricky and Phil.

We couldn't have done this without you lovely people!

we're reflecting on the progress

Though our to-do list is still long (and continually growing) we are so blessed to be living in this place. I find it incredibly rewarding to scroll through the pictures to see how far we've come and I hope you'll enjoy taking a peek at this last year's progress as much as I have. I must say scrolling through so many photos was almost as overwhelming as the amount of work we've done.

*while I had every intention to get nice before and after's, my desire to get my dirty hands on my camera was not... so I apologize for the blurry, nasty phone pictures*

---

our farmhouse remodel

We pulled all the carpet out of the house the day we moved in, along with all the furniture that came with the house, there was literally dishes still in the cabinets. The previous owner had cats which make me a sobbing, red-faced, sneezing mess. We also both prefer the look and cleanliness of a hardwood floor, especially on a farm, so the carpet HAD to come out. Our living room remodel is underway and perhaps in the next year we can prioritize the house again and finish her out. We will be refinishing the original douglas fir floors and installing a blackened wood wall and new fireplace surround at some point along this journey. We also might have a chance to upgrade the college couch and buy our first living room furniture together.

When we pulled carpet upstairs we revealed some original pine floors that were of course painted, which was exactly what we were expecting. We knew we'd refinish them someday but someday became the day after closing when we realized how bad the master bedroom floor was peeling. Fast forward 40 hours and we were ready to finish the floors in the master bedroom and move our mattress off the living room floor. We decided to paint one of the back bedroom's floor instead of sanding it down for the sake of time and the bigger picture, it will become a bathroom in the coming years. The other bedroom we stripped, sanded and finished to match the master.

We still have trim to finish and some 'cozying' up to do but they're coming along beautifully.

We've had several demo days around the homestead, but I'd have to say I think demoing our basement was my favorite. When we first walked into this basement seven months prior to our closing the smell got my attention right away. I can see through the dirt, grim and chaos but man, that smell stuck with me. So, instead of a cosmetic upgrade we were demoing to completely redo the space and to take that nasty smell out.

After months of contemplating how to best use the space, gathering inspiration images and finalizing a plan for permits we were ambitious and ready to get our hands dirty. Let's just say we got our hands, face, clothes and every part of our house dirty in the process (there may still be residue of concrete dust in the closets and cabinetry throughout the house but I'm not ready to look)...

This was our first time doing, well, most of this type of work. We learned A LOT along the way and I think we can both say we were challenged far more on this project than almost anything we've come across in life to this point.

I'd love to say the space is done, but we're happy with the progress we've made. This winter we'll wrap up the mudroom and those last pesky details like hardware on the kitchen cabinets in the apartment.

While most of our time has been focused on the house and other homestead projects we have done a few personal 'yard' projects. This spring we planted a hedge of aronia to define our yard boundary. We're planning on a full 'orchard' and fruit field between the aronia and the lower red garage. We have BIG plans for the red garage and having it surrounded with an orchard fits our vision for the space. While our aronia hedge is 'floating' in the lawn right now we love that this space is becoming more than yard space.

We also removed a huge patch of raspberry and weeds in our front yard. Less mess when we arrive home is so rewarding and we're loving the little difference.

---

homestead projects

While the house projects have come a long way, it's really the homestead that's made the biggest change.

Last fall we built our livestock barn, it's already getting tight and we're anticipating an addition next season (I have a problem with bringing too many animals home). 

Obviously one of our biggest projects here at the farm was clearing for pastures. While this  place was once a sheep farm with clear rolling hillsides, over the last 30 years it's become a tangled mess of invasive species. Fences are in, animals are grazing and we'll wait to finish up the clearing until the snow flies.

Excavation for next year's hay/machine barn is also complete! With the new barn excavation we got one of our two 'trout' ponds filled in and will be making it into a ball/game field

As you may remember we were selected for a USDA grant this past spring to help us seed and fence our 18 acre field. It's definitely greened up nicely (ignore my ragweed, I'm working on that ;)) and this fall we'll finish up the fences.

looking forward to the coming year

This coming year we're hoping to slow it down a bit. While we have several projects we'd like to do we're going to slow the deadlines for the sake of getting some rest and enjoying this beautiful valley. Things are finally workable so soon we'll be focused on getting things 'prettied' up, and I think we're both looking forward to that.

pin it!

Homestead | New Logo

Introducing our new logo!

With the move to a new farm and the collection of our business under one name it seemed an appropriate time to rework our logo. I must admit, at times it's hard to connect my meat business with pretty flowers and design work. It makes logos challenging but I'm in love with end result of our new brand image.

How the tree came to be.

When Matt and I were contemplating an image for our new logo we wanted to capture something uniquely ours. The topography of our farm was considered; however, even with our landscape architecture backgrounds this image just didn't seem to stick. After hours of frustration on my part, again trying to find an image that would blend these businesses together isn't a walk in the park, Matt mentioned 'the tree'. As soon as those beautiful words came out of his mouth, I knew we'd found our image. Since I'm a woodworker's daughter and Matt a sawyer you'd think that would wrap up the story of adding a tree to the logo, but there is more to this story.

Is there something special about the Homestead tree?

Yes, there is something very special about this tree. I'm the daughter of a woodworker and tree nerd, which means that I grew up recognizing that certain trees were extra special. These 'special' tree's were the most figured trees, the largest trees, and trees that meant something special to a family or company. Think American Girl, that iconic symbol of a bur oak on their logo. It happened to be a 'special' tree on their main location. Much like American Girl, Homestead Wisconsin has a special tree.

  Homestead Wisconsin is home to the state's largest black walnut tree. Yes you read that right, it's recorded in several books published by the state's arborists and is a tree that my father has known about for years. In fact, he knew it so well that when Matt pulled up the listing for this farm my father knew it as the farm with the largest walnut in the state. Now, I can't say it had everything to do with us purchasing this place, but I think it played a big role in Matt and my father's decision making.

We're pretty proud to have this specimen in the Morrison/McCoy family and we hope for many, many more years of it gracing our farm.

And just in case you are also a tree nerd...

You can learn more about storied trees and how Matt helps give these special trees new life at The Wood Cycle of Wisconsin.

Renovations | Settling In

Winter on the farm

There are so many blessings for a farmer, florist and designer this time of year. The biggest blessing is a slower season to catch up, reflect and prioritize a new season. After the snowfall a couple days ago I couldn't resist taking the time to get out with Banjo and breath a little. It felt good to actually soak in the beauty of this place that took my breath away on a snow covered January day a year ago. As I am starting to settle into this slower season I am sitting back today with my cup of coffee (hot coco + coffee + milk), to reflect on the last five months that we've called this valley home.

Since day one there has been project after project here at the homestead. The month of August we spent getting our home cleaned up and to a point I felt it was truly liveable. September, October and November were spent putting up our barn, moving livestock and bringing new livestock home. In December we started on our basement remodel where we are putting in a laundry, mudroom and a guest suite. As the finish line approaches on the basement reno I will be sure to share the final result with you.

While it is inspiring to sit back and look at all we've accomplished in these few short months I think both Matt and I are looking forward to a season of rest yet this winter. We have our eyes set on finishing our basement remodel by March 1 and then clearing our calendar of projects until April. It seems crazy to think that the last five months we've taken less than ten days away from a project, a stark difference to the last home we purchased together. We knew when we first visited this property that there were a laundry list of to-dos, but we are slowly learning that it's going to take time, and I am going to need to learn patience.

Life in this valley has been an adventure so far and I continue to appreciate the opportunities before us, 2018 is going to be an exciting year.

Homestead Update | Hello 2018!

Cheers to a new year!

The holidays felt like a whirlwind between gathering with family and friends, and working on our recent basement remodel. However, I didn’t let the New Year slip by without some thought on where these businesses are going to take us in 2018.

A new year offers a new beginning and I am always thankful for that. I’m learning more about business and finding renewed passion, and new passion, as each year passes.

So like all years I sat down, pen in hand and wrote out goals and dreams for these little businesses. It always amazes me how inspiring this process is and I am on fire to get things rolling!

So, what am I looking forward to in 2018 with these businesses? Here’s a little sneak peak!

• I look forward to opening up more available dates for weddings and events.

• I’m excited to develop our online shopping experience of our meats.

• I look forward to being more active on the blog to share more stories, projects and recipes with you.

• I’m excited to host an open farm and studio day where we can share more of our business with you.

• I look forward to growing our flerd (flock + herd) and am excited to welcome our own lambs this year.

• I am excited to show you more of our farm so that you can feel a connection with us and our livestock even if you only ever experience our farm online.

• I look forward to offering four season planter design.

A New Year wouldn't be the same without a resolution right? This year my resolution is to prioritize intentionality. It's easy when running three businesses to feel like I need to do anything to just keep my head above water. However, I've learned the last year that it doesn't help to just do, it only helps when I find intentionality behind the do. So this year I aim to be more intentional about business direction, customer experience and connecting with each and every one of you.

As always thank you for supporting this dream and I look forward to what 2018 has to bring!

Sending out a huge THANK YOU to all those that made Homestead possible!

While a thank you is quite overdue we are approaching a season of thankfulness and we want to make sure we send out a HUGE THANK YOU all of those who have inspired us and helped us along this journey.

First off we want to thank those who have inspired us to create our adventure and follow our dreams, no matter how terrifying that has been!

·         Paul Morrison (Dad) we thank you for quitting the ‘day job’ so many years ago to pursue your passion, you have been a huge inspiration and a great support. Thank you for teaching us to follow our passions in life, even if it isn’t the easiest or most lucrative career choice. Friends be sure to check out his custom woodworking shop The Wood Cycle and be sure to pick up a copy of his new book ‘Tree to Table’, we promise it is worth the read!

·         Morgann McCoy we thank you for taking the step to open your own business so fresh out of school. You taught us that passion and drive can calm any critique about your ‘experience’ and that with enough drive you can do amazing things! Check out her amazing products at A Well Worn Story.

·         Elise Dettwiler we thank you for being another ‘Morrison’ that has taken on their own business venture and of course a huge thank you for providing images for our ‘About Me’ section. Be sure to check her out at Wild Mulberry Photography!

·         Amber & Preston Gable we thank you for blazing a trail and giving us the courage to diversify from our ‘degrees’ to follow all of our passions in life. We can’t thank you enough for owning your dream instead of following the traditional path of your education. Check out Back Country Winery for information on their beautiful winery. Their wine pairs perfectly with an evening on the homestead patio.

Finally, a HUGE THANK YOU to all the other supporters in our life! We truly believe we have the best family and friends around. You all have had such a huge impact on our personal lives and even though some of you have been overwhelmed with our business life we thank you for sticking with us as we pursue our new adventure. We love you!

-Brit & Matt