Taking Stock

We finished our last tasks for the winter last week: mowing, trimming, weeding and inventory. I sat in the car awhile to admire the valley in the afternoon sun and feel the pride of making something happen. Our second growing season done, and we are already able to start a small business with our first major harvest.  

I think we are one of very few southern farms growing willow, and I wondered when we started whether it would do well here. Well, it made it through the drought days and the torrential rain and wind and so far, it does damn well! I hope other folks see a potential in growing willow for themselves, because it is rewarding  - and - forgiving. The life cycle of willow has been easy to fit into our lives.  

Speaking of fitting into our lives, I’ve made a decision to forgo the big harvest push and instead cut as needed. That means I’ll be overwintering most of the rods on the plants and just cut enough for orders and to gradually fill in our new beds in December and January.  In February, I’ll cut what rods are still standing and then use some for living willow structures and dry some for basketry. With this system, we’ll avoid  doing all that labor at once. I won’t have  to buy a dedicated refrigerator to store cuttings. I’m also more assured that all cuttings we sell are fresh and viable for the customer. Win, win, win. 

There are plenty of busy work projects we could do between now and December when we start planting new beds, but likely we’ll take a few weeks off to do other things.  I am starting to spread the word about the online shop, so you will see posts pop up in willow groups.  Small business = always working, even if you have to change hats every few weeks. 

Check out our shop site! The shop will be open between now and February 27 for cuttings orders. I’ll start shipping in mid December. If you want to know more about willow growing, and the purchasing and shipping process, go to this web page. You can see all 12 varieties of willow that are for sale right now, their characteristics and uses, on this page. 

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Here we are already - almost November

 

I've been doing the inventory and planning for the next year's plantings. It's just getting cold enough to force the beds into dormancy but several of the varieties are still in leaf, so we are waiting on them to start harvesting. 

After plotting out the rest of the eastern field area, and allocating bed space for 40-50 plants each for our 15 varieties able to provide enough cuttings, I know. We've only got room for about 800 more starts. We are also going into prep and planting season without any helpers so simultaneously, we only have energy for about 800 as well. 600 took us down last year, but we will have to spread it out over this winter and I think we can do it. (Helpers still wanted!!!)

I would feel bad about not doing multiple thousands of new starts, but we are doing this farm on a shoestring, just a few pieces of residential equipment and the labor is decidedly slow (us). But, even the 800 plants we have now are producing enough that we can sell a significant number of cuttings and still double our planted inventory. So here's the announcement!

Orders will begin on November 10th. Shipping can begin as early as December, through the end of February. We'll be selling packs of 10 for $20 of 12 varieties. Check out the descriptions here.  The shop site is hosted by Tinker and Spinner this year, but Good Willow Farm will have its own shop next fall.

Farm, interrupted

8/20/25 Driving back from the hospital and stopping to see
just how overgrown it was

We had a medical emergency 2 weeks ago. One of us became ill enough to go up mountain to the hospital and the other drove back home alone and promptly dropped her laptop on her foot. It was a 5 day stay, and during that week, nothing got done on the farm. One ill, one hobbling, and then our senior cat died. Not a great week. 

8/20/25 2 year olds starting to be overrun.

The weeks before this happened had been rainy and grey, and both of us felt like avoiding the upkeep that was literally growing out of control.  On the other hand, we were relieved that the willow was being watered without us. We knew it was getting time to mow and trim and weed the beds, but the right day didn’t come. 

So this is the worst consequence of the delay: the overgrown vines in the bed have climbed into the willow and are dragging them down. I believe this is bindweed, because that is exactly what it is doing - creating 3-6 strand coils around the willow that resist breaking. It will take awhile to get it all out. 

9/2/25 Bindweed, or whatever this is,
starting to drag down the willow.

Now that we are both staring to recover, we’ve been back at the farm this week and have trimmed, mowed and started to get the bindweed out of the beds. I’ve tried unwinding on the new slender willows, and it takes about 15 minutes per plant. I tried cutting the vines but not unwinding them on some of the 2 year old plants, but even dead, those vines are like iron. Luckily the vines haven’t taken over more than 15% of the new bed and less of the older beds. 

An enterprising local guy was bush hogging the cross-creek neighbor’s creekbed and offered to do ours and then bush hog the areas where we hadn’t managed to clear yet.  Without heavy machinery, we have to call someone up. Now, at a great price, we are looking spiff! 

9/5/25 So thankful for guys with heavy equipment!
This is the view from the back of the property, across the creek.

 Going forward, there's some jobs still to do, plus a lot of vines to cut out, but we are projecting November or December for harvest. We are hoping to find a few folks to help with that and setting up the new beds, paid with willow or cash. Gotta feed the community. Old Fort, by the way, is really growing right now. Soon it will be leaf season too. Get in touch!

 GoodWillowFarm@yahoo.com

August Update: We are growing!

All photos taken on 7/26/25. Click on photos for close-up. 
 Good Willow Farm,  freshly mowed, all current beds doing great!

 

So here we are in August already. The last time I posted, the willow was just getting started and we were diligently watering and cleaning up and crossing our fingers. The best thing to happen, did. It started to rain, regularly. Luckily, our valley was avoided by the torrential rain that flooded nearby areas, but yes, it has been plenty wet, alternating with sunny hot days. The willow loves it, but also, we didn't have to lug water jugs out there to keep the new babies hydrated. We lounged at home, celebrating the willow's ability to thrive in the weather this year. 

Our current new babies. 

We did have a few problems with fungus, and there are still some evidence of die off in some varieties, but it's not widespread. There is evidence of leaf munching at the taller tips, and one variety - Harrison B - has been infested with Japanese beetles. But overall, the damage is minimal. 

We are grateful to not need to be out there in the extreme heat. Keeping the grass and  weeds in check is another story. They also love the wet weather and it has been a struggle to get out there to mow, trim and weed. The photos with the beautifully mowed lawn still has a bank of weeds to mar them, because it was just too damn hot to do more than one thing at a time. A riding mower is going to needed and soon, if this heat and rain continue. 

I'm also getting close to an irrigation system and a plan for a storage building is next. By fall, I also hope to line up some helpers for harvest and preparing next year's new planting. Oh to be young again! these old ladies exclaim!

Summer and winter seem to be down-time for willow in general. I see other farmers turning to other endeavors during this time as well. We are still dealing with our RV rehabbing and packing up the house, and hopefully can get most of it done before November, when we'll start harvesting.

Two year old bed in front, 3yr olds 
peeking out in back, Rubykins on the left.

Last year I posted photos of growth winners in the 1st year beds, and our 1yr beds are matching and exceeding those measurements! But the exciting news for me is the 2yr and 3yr old growth winners! 

Miyabeana is just loving this property! Even in the middle of the summer, our 2 yr olds are 11+ feet! I planted a solitary stand of Miya - just 11 plants in a 10 foot row - in a low place away from the other beds. I wanted to see what kind of hedge it might make.  I guess the answer is yes! a good one! 

2 yr old Miya. I'm holding a 10 ft PVC 
pipe for measurement. Zoom in to see.

Another view of the 2yr Miya.

3yr old Rubykins. The wind is not
cooperating but just under 10ft. 

The other winner is the 3 yr old Rubykins. About 9-10ft tall, but so dense and so straight!  I love everything about this row, which is outperforming all the other varieties I first bought. 

Overall, we are really happy with the progress. I'll do another inventory in September, but with an estimate based on last year's harvest, our new bed will reproduce itself times 3, so potentially about 1800 new stalks. I don't have any idea of the output of the 2 and 3yr old beds, but say it's just 200 plants times 4 - 800 new stalks. So, potentially 3600 new plants. Hence, needing helpers for preparing and planting new beds. *Deep Breath* We might even be able to sell some this spring! Stay tuned. 

While we are off-duty, I've been making row
ID plates for the beds, using oven-bake clay.