Yesterday morning I was sending out glorious texts about my lovely, abundant harvest, but today is a different story…

This was yesterday:

“This is the first day that the morning harvest has kind of felt like a HARVEST!”

I went outside just as the sun rose and cut all sorts of goodies: Snapdragons, cosmos, bachelor buttons and Rose of Sharon and peony and wisteria greenery. I planned to make bouquets today for my first ever flower stand tomorrow morning, so I cut everything ahead of time, leaving ample time for the flowers to hydrate and set up for arranging.

I figured I could work TODAY’S harvest into the mix later in the afternoon, but I’d have the bulk of what I needed to prep bouquets and arrangements this morning.

But this morning had a different idea.

While loading the fridge, I looked over yesterday’s flowers and something didn’t look quite right. Not good at all, actually.

I’ve been storing blooms in the fridge for a while now, monitoring the temperature every day, and I was feeling pretty confident that everything was exactly what it needed to be. But I hadn’t put anything in the very back on the top shelf.

I pulled out yesterday’s bucket and found this…

The top, back fridge zone is apparently too close to the over-ambitious freezer.

Good to know, bad to find out.

Apparently flowers and foliage don’t enjoy being encased in ice. Ugh. I’ll still be able to make bouquets for tomorrow, but not as many, and I can’t get started this morning as planned. That’s unfortunate because we’re busy this afternoon/evening, so I’ll probably be up late tonight making them instead having them prepped and ready to go.

Does life ever go as planned?

I guess in the grand scheme of things it’s better this way. Unexpected twists keep things interesting, and keep me learning and on my toes. Plus, I’d much rather work out the bugs during my first little flower stand of the year when I’ve still only got a few flowers than during a more important time!

Actually, I wasn’t planning on have bouquets this weekend at all, but when the snapdragons appeared, I had change plans. Those blooms are too gorgeous to keep to myself!

So I posted on Facebook to let people know to expect flowers on Saturday and prepped the flower sign yesterday:

This sign has given me fits! I know, I know, you can still read the previous message underneath. “Thank you for coming.”

I got two of these signs for a deal on Marketplace, and sometimes a deal is too good to be true. The previous owner assured me that the writing was done in chalk. I wondered why she hadn’t wiped it off, but to each her own.

When I got the signs home, they were most definitely painted in very permanent paint. I scraped and scrubbed for hours before getting them to this point. Good enough, I think! I’ll probably repaint them as some point with chalkboard paint, but for now I’m trying to save money wherever I can.

Usually FB Marketplace is amazing…other times it’s a bit of a punch in the gut. Still, I do love the signs, and didn’t mind using a bit of elbow grease to make them functional!

Anyway, here’s hoping the flower stand’s mini practice run will go well tomorrow. I got some business cards to tuck into the flowers. They were also a great deal, 500 cards for under $20, but after I’d placed the order I read some really horrible reviews about the company, to the point where I wasn’t even sure if they’d show up and I feared the horrendous print quality. But they showed up early and the quality is fantastic, so I’m thrilled!

As for the first flower stand, I have to admit, I’ve got this dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach that nobody will want my flowers. Not just tomorrow, but all summer. I know that isn’t true, but I think it’s good for me to push through the negativity.

It’s okay if it doesn’t work.

Initially, that just means I’ll have to try something different, find a different path through. And if it doesn’t work in the very end, at least I exhausted all my options.

But it’s not okay to automatically assume things will fail. I need to give it a try (probably a lot of tries), and see how things go! And I need to factor in time, tenacity, and plenty of opportunities to adjust as needed.

Growing and selling flowers should be fun, but it should also be a challenge. Challenges aren’t always enjoyable, but they are exciting and there is such satisfaction when you push through and do something you weren’t able to do before!

So, wish me luck! I’ll try to post flower stand pictures soon!

I hope you’re having a beautiful day.