It’s time…
FIELD NOTES · NO. 001
What started as a property farmed to death, void of any nutrients or character — flat, milquetoast, blank slate — turned into a testing ground for what seems like an endless collection of ideas, schemes, dreams, half-finished projects, things growing and things expanding; all of which usually started with, “What if we…”
Some of the ideas were brilliant and worked out beyond our wildest dreams, and some, not so much. The latter usually found themselves in the burn pit at some stage. In the eight years that have passed, this place, Old Stage Farms, has really started to grow into itself…and has been a hell of an experiment.
We're excited that we're finally at a point where we can share some of it with you.. While nothing is actually ever “ready,” sometimes you just have to jump in. Pick your saying…. Progress over perfection. No time like the present. Sh*t or get off the pot. Nothing to it, but to do it. …You get the drift.
Needless to say, it’s been a fun ride for us so far, so why not let other people in on it.
That said, welcome to Field Notes.
FROM THE FIELD
The first Christmas trees went in the ground in 2018, and ever since its been trial and error by fire. We’ve learned a thing or two along the way; what species can survive the struggle in our fields, which ones do not fair well (sorry Douglas fans), if you don’t tame these wonderland beauties along the way you’ll end up with a three trunk Goliath, bag worms are a thing, and most importantly Christmas trees are primadonas that don’t like wet feet yet…except sometimes. So you learn to develop a love hate relationship with the rain because of it. Christmas trees are certainly the long game of farming, and ours just a few years away from hot coco and cut your own family traditions. We’re so close, we can almost smell the chestnuts roasting!! Every year we continue to plant several hundred trees to keep up a succession plan. This year we did a big push of 800 trees in April, but had a drought period that brought on a big loss. We plan to do our first ever fall tree planting this year to help bounce back from the summer casualties.
So now that we still know almost nothing about Christmas trees, we’ve decided this year to do a ½ acre test plot on something with a little more instant gratification. Flowers. Talk about a whirlwind?! When you’re used to the slow and steady of fluffy evergreen and try your hand at the beautiful chaos that is flowers, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. Surprisingly we had quite a few successes along with the fails. The data has been collected, will be reviewed, changes will be implemented, and next season we try again. Fire hose, be damned!
FROM THE STUDIO
Somewhere in the middle of growing all those flowers, Mae to Marz started growing too.
What began as another experiment with Dallas and me has turned into the creative side of what we're building here — flowers, workshops, making things and, if history is any indication, probably a few ideas that will eventually end up in the burn pit.
Mae to Marz lives here at Old Stage Farms, but she's got a personality all her own. We'll get into that story another day.
WHATS AHEAD
Even though we're getting ready to put the farm to sleep, 2026 isn't over yet.
The studio buildout has officially commenced as we convert part of our black barn into a place for future grow-and-play shenanigans. And while we're not open for cut-your-own trees just yet, we're ready to start letting people in on some of the fun.
First up, we're working on a few wreath workshops for the holidays. The logistics are still being sorted out — because apparently we enjoy building the airplane while flying it — but we'll share the details as soon as they're nailed down.
Stay tuned.
Rooted here,
Dani Mae