In the last six months since my last post we've reopened the shop under phases 2 and 3 in Island County. Melissa and I had a baby boy, Yarrow. Our country has been through unrest, and we've had an election. It's been a crazy year, and it isn't over yet. We watched Covid-19 numbers in the US go up, down, up and now WAY UP. It's not horrible here, yet, and I'm fearful that people are giving up. Uncontrolled spread locally will be devastating to our families, health providers, and our local businesses. 

We have a lot to be proud up here on South Whidbey, where we've done a fantastic job with Covid-19 so far. Langley, Freeland and Clinton have limited the number of cases to 41 since February. Thank you to everyone who has taken this virus seriously, continues to wear masks and does all the other things experts say limits the spread of this wily virus.

I want to tell you what your commitment to stop this virus means to our family. It has saved our business, and livelihood. It has kept our parents and our newborn safe. It has kept our staff and their family members safe. Limiting social interactions and wearing masks has helped to save many small businesses on South Whidbey. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

As we go into the holiday season, there is a higher risk of spread. It's getting colder, so we can't be outside as much. There is the temptation to have social gatherings during the holidays etc. Some of you may be sick of wearing your mask. I understand all of these feelings. I feel this way, but we have to keep up our best practices. This is not the time for extended family to visit for the holidays. Next year will be different. This won't last forever.

The most important test of our resolve is upon us. Forget the last 8 months, think of right now as the beginning of the pandemic. I am pleading with all of you to keep it up. Don't let the high numbers across the country get you depressed, we can still keep our local numbers down. Wear your mask, wash your hands, limit social interactions...You know the drill.  Thank you. - Ben

Our shop has been closed to the public for three weeks now.  In the most optimistic scenario, a May 4th re-opening, we would have been shut for seven weeks.  I hope the positive effect we've all had on the covid curve makes this scenario a reality, but it's possible that It could be longer.  

Mothers Day is the busiest time of the year for our shop.  While other shops in Langley claim the summer months as their busiest time of the year, our bread is buttered in May.  The spring bulbs I worked so hard to plant in the autumn are popping all over the farm.  The daffodils and hyacinths are splashing color in the rows.  Our tulips are coming!  This pandemic has been hard, but it's only going to hurt more as the spring continues.  Though our shop is inaccessible, the Flying Bear is still in the air.

Hey, how're you doing?  Yeah, me too.  This is hard.  It's going to be okay.

This morning Moon and I went for a walk down in town while Melissa got started on today's flower delivery orders.  Langley was nearly deserted, but I did see a few folks walking around.  The few folks I talked to (from a distance!) were in good spirits, but definitely in need of a chat.  This time of isolation has turned strangers into acquaintances and acquaintances into long lost friends.  It was nice to talk with people outside of my homestead family for a change, even if we had to shout to be heard over the wind.

This evening Governor Inslee issued an order for all citizens to stay home except for essential business.  It was a long expected order, but it still hits deep.  That's the purpose of such an order; to force the seriousness of the situation to sink into even the most free-wheeling of people. 

Inslee issued the order for the same reason we closed our retail storefront a week ago.  We have since been doing deliveries wile taking every precaution we can.  In addition to continual sanitizing of everything, Melissa and I have been spatially distanced from everyone outside of our family to keep our deliveries as safe as possible.  We are confident in our ability to continue to safely deliver our product to our customers under this new order. 

​We have to be careful.  Many of us need to stay home.  The only way to keep hundreds of our neighbors and many thousands of our fellow citizens from dying from this virus is to deny this bugger new hosts.  This means keeping a distance, and staying home as much as possible.  The better we do this, the quicker this crisis will be over.  We've taken major losses to our income.  Our employees have temporarily been laid off.  These sacrifices will be for naught if we don't all do our part.

And we will get through this.  I have faith that this too shall pass.  It will pass with the bare minimum of life lost because we are in this together.  Faith is often seceded to the exclusive domain of organized religion.  Faith is too big for such a narrow definition.  The seed is started and the farm bed prepared on the foundation of faith in the continuation of life.  I have faith that we will see this crisis to a swift end, and that we will support each other during and in the aftermath.  The sweet peas will grow and flower into a glorious summer.

Thank you to all who continue to support us in this crazy time!  Also thank you to everyone doing their best to stop the spread of the virus, and especially to all of the medical workers, grocery store employees, and delivery drivers.  I can't imagine what this time would be like without you.  Love to all!!  - Ben

There's work to be done! 

Farmer's minds are always in the future.  We have to focus on the present, sure, but we're also constantly planning the next several months ahead.  In a crisis such as this, I've found myself drowning in present time.

That strange feeling in the chest, shoulders and neck?  It's not the virus, it's the specter of it conjuring feelings of panic.  For me, for a few days there, it was giving me a kind of ADHD.  I found I couldn't focus on anything.  Work plans?!  Let's check the news!  What plans?  What was that?  It's 4 PM ALREADY!?!  I imagine many of you now working from home know what I'm talking about. 

Even in normal times, keeping focus while working at home can be difficult.  This week, checking something off my farm plan list is nearly impossible.  Even without the distraction, the crisis is generating a whole new list of urgent tasks.

Well, yesterday I actually got some farm work done!!  Two months from now I'm planting dahlia tubers in these beds that now have the winter cover crop on them.  This means NOW is the time to start prepping and turning in the cover crop so that it can mostly compost in time for planting.  The future and present are one.  

In this moment, our present time is meant to improve the future.  We're fighting a kind of war, all of us, to curb this virus; to save us from a summer of grief.  Some things don't have to be sacrificed though.  This is a time to get out into nature if you can.  Spend some time in the soil.  Listen to the birds and take in the new life that spring is ushering in around us.  Plant something beautiful for the future while transforming the present.

Well, that was weird. 

Door to door, I drove from Langley to Georgetown, including the ferry crossing, in only one hour.  It usually takes at least an hour and a half.  The ferry was half as full.  The ferry workers wore bright blue gloves, which I find a bit creepy (anyone who has seen Firefly understands).

The Space Needle was dark.  It had closed, so the top levels were totally black.  They also turned the exterior lights down, so that the normally vivid white exterior was difficult to make out.  If I hadn't been driving, I'd have a picture to share.  It was quite shocking.

John Richards of 90.3 KEXP played Hans Zimmer.

The waning half moon was rising just above the Cascades, and was a unique pumpkin orange.  Both Jupiter and Mars sat just above the crescent, together guiding me into the sleepy city.

I don't get off the island that often except for our weekly, 5 AM flower run in the off-season.  The Seattle Wholesale Growers Market Co-op supplies the Seattle metro area with seasonal, west-coast grown flowers from small, family farms throughout the year.  Whatever we can't supply from our farm or other Whidbey growers we source from farms located in California, Oregon and Washington. 

This is how we get our roses & other flower shop staples year round.  It's a fantastic place, full of vibrant color and bustling activity, especially in the wedding season.  It was pretty quiet today.  Pretty much every wedding has been canceled through the end of April.  The global floral industry is in free-fall.  The local floral industry is adapting, like us, to the new reality. 

My town is a ghost of it's former self.  The Covid-19 pandemic and the requisite response to it, in an effort to save perhaps hundreds of our neighbor's lives, has closed our flower shop and most other business in Langley.  The image above was from 5 PM on Tuesday, March 17th.  On a normal day at this time, even on a Tuesday, parking is scarce on 1st Street.  This was the last day our shop retail was fully open, as we are now open for deliveries and e-commerce only.  [Insert}{Shamelessplughere} While you're on the site, take a look at our offerings. {/Insert}{/Shamelessplughere}

While walking through town with our dog, Moon earlier in the day, it was just as deserted.  Vacant, yet gorgeous.  Spring has not been canceled in Langley, and although I didn't see any grey whales today, they were just off shore yesterday.  The juxtaposition of beautiful gardens, mountain & water views, and the quaint village atmosphere with the chaotic serenity of a pandemic was jarring.  My little town...My poor little, fragile village seemed in a coma.  The Star Store grocery the only hub of nervous activity; a delicate dance of a dozen people keeping 6 ft away in a small town grocery.  I held back tears seeing Langley in such a state.  Those tears spilled out in the embrace of my wife back in the shop.  It's okay to cry in such times.  It felt good to cry.  I'd been holding it in for days, so if you're like me you have my permission to let it out too.  You'll feel better.  Remember, we'll get through this if we stick together, and just imagine the celebration we'll have when it's all over.

We're still here...Love from a distance.  We're offering free delivery to South Whidbey.  We can deliver anything in the shop, including full service floral.  Our gift certificates are available to buy beauty for the future. 

Love to all,

​Ben. 

Below is our plant list for the participants of our 2018 workshop session in Oak Harbor, WA. 

​Select the download option below the document to save a copy:

We've had some snow, not a ton, but this past winter will be remembered for it's extraordinary amount of rain and consistently cool temperatures.  Farmers all over the area are having a slow start to the year, and we're no exception.  ​This has been the coldest winter here since 1985, but spring is FINALLY just about here.  

The 2017 season has already sprouted in our greenhouse, and the first plants are ready to go in.  In between the rain storms, I've been working hard getting the field ready.  

Thanks to the tractor, I had no trouble moving the loads from the 1o yard pile by the driveway.  The rest gets to be spread by hand onto our raised beds.  Progress!

The most exciting development is our new field!  Thanks to a friend lending us a tiller attachment for our tractor, we've been able to till the new field that I plowed at the end of last summer.  Now that the soil is nicely broken up, I'll be able to form the new beds and put down another round of manure.  Our dahlias will be making their home in this new field, so in August that area of bare soil will look like THIS:

Here's to spring finally beginning, and for the copious blooms of the summer to come!

​ - Ben

After a pretty frigid and traumatic winter, with all of the political craziness and bullshit happening, we here at Flying Bear Farm are very ready to run headlong into spring! It's a little early yet for our fields to be bursting with abundance, but if you take a second to notice, there's beauty peeking out from just about everywhere...

We are lucky again to be pairing up with Kalakala Co Mercantile for a Petals & Sweets Weekend to celebrate VDay in Langley! We'll be popped up on Second Street with many of these precious early-season babes ready to put into custom hand-tied bouquets and posies for your sweeties. Plus, we'll be bringing unexpected floral art, local artisan VDay cards, gift certificates and shares in our Floral CSA Subscription! Along with all of that goodness, Kalakala will be tempting with their delicious smackerals, perfect drinks, and local live music (Saturday afternoon!)...It will be a wonderland of treats for you and all of your beloveds!

And to amplify and nourish the love and compassion in our community, with each purchase at our Pop Up Shop we will offer a single, wrapped tulip for you to give away to a stranger. This is why:

So we hope to see you and share some flower love on Valentine's weekend!
xoxo
Melissa