Welcome to Season 1 of Undergardeners

Professional flower farming advice, we have not. Just today (January 11), we let a 4 year old and 1 year old bamboozle us into starting spring, summer and fall seeds (all, obviously, way too early). They just couldn't wait. Plus, they were irresistibly cute with their treasure chest of old seeds. Plus, we adults were excited to dust off seed-starting trays and rip into a bag of compost. Two hours later, it snowed.

Our boys are at the heart of this operation

As babies they both loved being plopped on top of a garden bed. Wilfie would stuff his adorable little face with handfuls of herbs, and his pockets with tomatoes. Laurie was happy just to feel the dirt beneath his toes (and in his hair and up his shirt and down his pants). As a preschooler and a toddler, not much has changed.

So we lean into gardening because it's where we naturally, effortlessly connect. And we all love sharing what we've grown with others.

Next step: formalize the family hobby into a family business (and spend more time together).

When we're not working our full-time jobs (running a small actuarial firm; supporting millions of families on their pregnancy/early parenting journeys), we're in the garden.

Mostly because we like it there but also because the boys let us feed them, bathe them, entertain them, teach them and snuggle them there—all in one space. We joke that the garden fence is the best playpen money can buy. It's become more of a dreamscape and classroom rolled into one. But they bring all the best stuff to their actual teachers and friends at school each day: bouquets, bags of cucumbers for snack time, etc.

So we thought, let's carve out our own adult growing spaces beyond the garden gate, for us and for flowers—there are five acres that we loathe mowing—and eventually share those, too. Make the butterflies and bumblebees happy. Do a good, fun thing! But the boys follow us into the field and spend as much time there now, too. So now we're all hard at work:

• Re-planting five acres: Previous homeowners really loved grass. We're slowly replacing mowed areas with cut flower production (and pollinator sanctuaries).

• Learning sustainability: Farming buzzwords like drought-tolerant perennials and regenerative soil are priorities, and we're researching other ways to holistically honor Mother Earth while building a small business.

• Figuring out the brand: From scratch. (Hi! Thanks for being here!)

  
  

Looking ahead: we'll have some stuff to share (we hope)

Hopefully soon we'll have cut flowers from our first-year trial crops, heaps of energy and enthusiasm from kickstarting this endeavor and maybe some helpful tips or insights—all in this early season of Undergardeners. And we'll bring all those stories here.