Welcome to The Gardener’s Letter

There is something I have been wanting to create for a while now.

Actually, that probably describes half the things happening at Hickman Hollow Farms. I have a habit of coming up with ideas faster than Jamie can reasonably build them, which is why there is usually a project somewhere around here waiting on 2×4’s, plants, fencing, or my husband to finish one of the other twelve things I have already asked him to do.

This idea, thankfully, does not require him to build anything.

I want to invite you a little further into Hickman Hollow.

Not just when we have flowers to sell or when there is a U Pick happening. Not just when there is something new sitting on the shelves of the Farm Store.

I want to share the rest of it too.

So this is the beginning of The Gardener’s Letter.

More Than Farm News

When we started Hickman Hollow Farms, I knew I wanted to share the story of what we were building.

And there has certainly been a story.

We bought an old horse farm and started slowly turning it into the place we had imagined for years. We built flower beds. We planted an orchard. We raised a greenhouse. We converted a horse stall into a chicken coop. We built a pond for ducks we did not even own yet, which feels like a pretty accurate representation of how we approach most projects around here.

There have been flowers and baby chicks and beautiful sunsets.

There have also been droughts, weeds, broken equipment, plants that absolutely refused to cooperate, and plenty of moments when Jamie and I have stood somewhere on these nineteen acres wondering what exactly we had gotten ourselves into.

That part matters too.

Because Hickman Hollow was never meant to be a perfectly polished version of farm life.

We are learning, building, and making mistakes. We are occasionally getting something exactly right.

And somewhere in the middle of all of that, this little farm is becoming home.

That is what I want The Gardener’s Letter to capture.

A Letter From the Hollow Every Thursday

Every Thursday morning, a new letter will arrive in your inbox.

It will be short. I promise I am not assigning Thursday morning homework.

If you aren’t already subscribed, here is your invitation:

Think of it more like a note from a friend letting you know what has been happening around here.

I might tell you what is blooming in the fields. I might show you what Jamie has been building. There may be news from the chickens, ducks, dogs, bees, or whatever other creature has managed to become part of this place by then.

I will let you know what is happening at the U Pick, what has appeared in the Farm Store, and what we are working on behind the scenes.

But I want these letters to offer you something too.

Sometimes I will share something useful I have learned in the garden.

Sometimes we will wander into the herb garden and talk about an herb we are growing.

There will be recipes, flowers, gardening lessons, seasonal ideas, projects, mistakes worth learning from, and probably the occasional story that exists mostly because something ridiculous happened and I need someone else to appreciate it.

And sometimes there may simply be something beautiful I think you should see.

The Longer Story Lives Here

There is one problem with me promising you a short email. I am not particularly good at telling short stories. If you have been around here very long, you already know this about me.

So every Gardener’s Letter will lead here, to the farm journal, where I can tell you the rest of the story.

This is where we can slow down. We can talk about what we are planting and why. I can show you the projects taking shape around the farm. We can learn about flowers, herbs, pollinators, gardening, natural living, and all the things I am learning right alongside you.

And years from now, I hope these pages become something else too. A record.

The story of Hickman Hollow Farms as it happened.

Not just the finished gardens and beautiful photographs, but the seasons that built them.

You May Notice a Few Other Residents

As you spend more time around the Hollow, you may occasionally encounter references to the Keeper.

Or perhaps a Wren carrying information that I certainly did not give her.

Do not be alarmed.

Every old farm collects stories eventually.

Apparently ours has decided to start early.

You will understand soon enough.

Come Sit With Us Awhile

More than anything, I want The Gardener’s Letter to feel like an invitation.

Hickman Hollow Farms is a business, of course. There will be weeks when I tell you about flowers available for picking, something new in the Farm Store, an upcoming workshop, or an event we would love for you to attend.

But I never want that to be the only reason we write to you. We are building this place around something much bigger than what we can sell.

We believe there is value in knowing where things come from. In growing something with your own hands. In supporting the land instead of simply taking from it. In teaching children to notice butterflies. In putting flowers on the kitchen table for no particular reason. In learning old skills again. In sitting outside a little longer. In knowing your neighbors. In thanking God for rain when the ground has been dry.

That is the Hickman Hollow I want to share with you.

And if reading one of these letters occasionally encourages you to step outside, plant something, learn something, make something, visit a local farm, bring home locally grown flowers, or simply notice something beautiful that you would normally have walked past, then I think these letters will have done exactly what I hoped they would do.

There is a lot growing here.

Flowers, certainly.

But also ideas, traditions, gardens, animals, projects, friendships, and a farm that is slowly becoming what we once could only imagine.

I would love for you to watch it happen with us.

So next Thursday morning, look for the first regular edition of The Gardener’s Letter.

The Wrens have already been informed.

I suspect they knew before I did.