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Monteshire in numbers

Monteshire is subdivided into 3 sections (tap or click the description to highlight it on the map):

How we farm here

Since the time we’ve had Monteshire in farmable condition, we’ve had two primary goals:

  • Keep it usable but beautiful. This is first and foremost a cut flower production area, so we need things to be in straight lines, evenly spaced, etc. for efficient planting and harvesting. But while it’s a far cry from Monty Don’s Longmeadow, it’s also the closest thing to a flower garden we can fit on our property. We try to keep things visually interesting by have bed sections that alternate between an E-W and N-S orientation and plant enough flowers that we can leave some to bloom rather than snip every last blossom and haul to the cooler.
  • Focus on perennials. We have always loved growing flowers, but growing them on the farm for sale made us feel a little guilty. How could we dedicate precious farmland that could be feeding people to aesthetics? We’ve sought to find ways for our flower field to provide ecosystem services rather than have ecosystem impact, and above all that means keeping living roots in the ground year-round. Perennial flowers can sequester carbon, build soil, provide all-season habitat for beneficial insects, and provide a nectar and pollen source for our 6-legged allies earlier in the season.

Over the past two years, we have added another focus: a push towards spring harvest. April and May are the time for our favorite blooms – daffodils, peonies, and irises – along with many other wonderful stems. Plus, an August dahlia, when we are in the midst of heirloom tomato season, is just not as exciting for us as a handful of double daffodils when there’s still frost on the ground. We’ll always grow some cuts for the summer, but we are really leaning into an earlier season.