Closing the Door on 2023.

2023… What a year…

What a whirlwind of a year. There is no easy way to dissect every single thing that happened within each month of this year. However, with that said, I will give it my very best shot.

January… We started this year off strong, with ambitious intentions of what the year would hold. We had several discussions on what the farm would look like, what improvements we could make, and prioritized items on that list. We spent a lot of time together as a family, enjoying the simple moments with eachother; eating good food, doing puzzles, reading by the fire etc. There was a lot of reflection and moments of gratitude for the life we have and place we live.

February came along and my twin sister and I celebrated our twenty-fifth birthday with our closest friends and family. A quarter of a century, where does the time go!? My mom and I drove to Richmond to dig up some bare root roses from a flower farmer who was downsizing their field space. We grabbed a few different varieties of rose bushes, as well as peony roots to add to our landscapes and gardens! Shortly afterwards, we received heartbreaking news. News that we only had a limited amount of time left with one of our dearest family members. We took that precious time and spent everyday soaking it in. Unfortunately, that time was much shorter than anyone anticipated and we grieved that loss heavily throughout the rest of the month. It really is true what everyone tells you, grief comes in waves and in the most unexpected ways.

March brought on new growth and new movements of trying to get through each day while also feeling all the heavy emotions we were going through, making the conscious effort not to sweep them under the rug and carry on as though everything was fine. I spent a lot of my days outside, getting the garden ready for the spring. My mom Juschka and I spent a few days in Vancouver for our BC Egg and Poultry Farmers Conference. We had several meetings and time to discuss the farming industry with our fellow farmers. It is an event we look forward to each year! We celebrated the end of the event with a fancy dinner and gala and it was a much needed distraction. My sister and I had booked our flights to Europe in December, and after the last few hard months, we had a lot of last minute planning to finish up. Almost every evening we could be found huddled over our laptops, credit card in hand as we carefully planned the details of our trip. Life on the farm remained fairly consistent throughout March. The first few signs of spring had begun to show and the mountains were slowly being covered with the thick leaves covering the trees that we love.

April meant the time had come to pack our bags and hop on a plane. Our mother had kindly been willing and excited to look after our animals for us while we were away. Leaving her with the farm was a lot of work but she was up for the challenge and encouraged us to follow through with our travel plans. Our animals were in good hands. We facetimed almost every night, exchanging stories of our travels and the happenings on the farm. Our first stop overseas was London, followed by Scotland and Germany. We stayed with our family in Germany, our grandmothers brother lives there with his wife and their family. Despite the distance, we have remained extremely close with them. So much so that when we are together, it feels as though no time has passed. We soaked in our moments with them, enjoying each others company while they showed us their favourite parts of the country our grandmother called home.

In May, we hopped on another plane, leaving our family in Germany and moving on further South to Italy for the last few days of our time away. Meanwhile on the farm, the sun was shining and spring was in full swing. The lilacs were blooming and their strong aroma lingered in the air. We returned home to a much greener scene than when we had left. The flowers were blooming and summer felt as though it was right around the corner. Our first few days home, we relayed more stories to our mom, telling her about all the places we wanted to revisit with her. We told her about our family and our new cousins whom we had never met. I got straight to work with Mothers Day flowers and workshops and my first big wedding of the season. As always, my mom was excited to help. We continued to work on fixing up the fences and created a new area for her vegetable garden.

June was filled with family birthdays and the birth of our twin nieces. There was so many things to celebrate this month. A lot of our days were spent tending to the gardens and the fields. However, it was different this year with the pipeline construction being as loud as it was; we found ourselves wanting to stay indoors more than being out in our yards. The noise was too loud and unrelenting.

July was full of flowers with the garden almost at its peak. A lot of weed whacking took place in order to keep the farm looking in order. Most days it felt as though we would never be able to keep up! We celebrated Canada Day and hosted a rodeo themed party for our moms birthday. Towards the end of the month, my sister, mom and I took off on a little roadtrip to Seattle. We had planned to take a few days off from our busy lives and make the most of a concert we would be attending. We were fortunate enough to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s, The Eras Tour and we could not have been more excited. We had the best weekend. We spent our mornings wandering around the city, tasting different foods and stopping at various coffee shops while the city buzzed with all things Taylor Swift. On the 23rd of the month, it was time to watch the show for ourselves. We got all dressed up in our best dress, added sparkles and gems to our face and walked towards the stadium. We truly had the best night of our life. We laughed, smiled so big our cheeks hurt, and even shed a few tears. It was such a special moment.

August was hot… it seemed as if the heat would never end! We spent so much time ensuring that our gardens and animals had enough water. We were constantly checking on the chickens to make sure they weren’t overheating. The sheep, horses and goats spent their time in the barn, sheltered from the sun. The dogs were more than happy to take quick car rides to the river to cool off in the water. Normally, we would walk them off the farm to the river, but the pavement was far too hot for their little feet! We call August our survival month for the summer, we just need to ‘get through’ the hot and humid days. It’s during this time that we often find ourselves longing for the cooler autumn months!

September feels like a blur, or maybe just a continuation of the same things that happened in August. A lot of time was spent outside, trying to fix up what we could despite the weather. There were several days at the river, soaking in the sun and spending time in the water to relieve ourselves from the hot sun. Juschka travelled to Banff, Alberta to a netwroking event with the BC Egg board, representing BC Egg farmers. The photos she kept sending us were incredibly beautiful! We were so glad she as able to take a brief break from the farm.

October felt like an extension of September in the way that it still felt like summer, not fall. We continued to enjoy our days by the river, kept at maintaining the farm and celebrated our late grandmothers birthday. It was a month of reflecting on the year so far and acknowledging the changing seasons. I spent a lot of time making plans on garden updates for next year and I am so excited to get started on that!

November felt never-ending. We quickly realized just how close Christmas was, which meant winter was right around the corner. I finished my last wedding of 2023, and then it was time for barn clean out. We shipped out our chickens and got started cleaning out the barn, making sure everything was ready for our new set of chickens! Unfortunately, due to the influx of avian influenza, we were unable to get our birds on schedule, everything was delayed! All we could do was wait for new updates and answers. We kept our fingers crossed in the hopes that we would be able to bring them to their new home by the time December rolled around… spoiler alert, we did!

December is a month that we look forward to as a family every single year. We long for this family time. This year was no different. However, December seemed to arrive much faster than in previous years. All of a sudden, it felt as though Christmas was happening far too quickly and none of us were prepared. It was a warmer month than we are used to, but we welcomed that. Our chickens finally arrived, alleviating some stress for the future. We spent so much time in the barn making sure these new birds were happy and comfortable, adjusting their heat, feed and ‘awake’ periods as needed. They slowly started laying their eggs and once again, we were back in business! Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye. We hunkered down, surrounding ourselves with our friends and family, simply enjoying each others company, and took the time to reflect on the year we were about to put behind us and start anew.

Overall, 2023 held so many good memories, despite the tragic losses and grief we faced. We have so many plans and good intentions for 2024 that we are incredibly excited about. The farm is a lot of work to maintain but we have set aside some goals to accomplish this year. We are so grateful for our life here on the farm and can’t wait to continue to share more with you throughout this next year. I hope everyone can look back on this year with gratitude for al the good that happened as well as reflect on the bad. Here’s to the start of a new year!

Wishing you all the best,

-the crew at Ethereal Floral and Hazelsprings Farm <3