A bright, sunny afternoon here on the mountain. The temperature pulled its way up to 15 degrees by noon but wind chills keep dropping it back down, forced lower by persistent winds averaging 5 mph but bursting to 20. Snow clouds whip by my office window in little whirls. It's cold out there!

I have been on a mission to learn more about social networking lately and some of it makes sense and some is more confusing. We have had our website, vermontflowerfarm.com for several years, our blog, The Vermont Gardener, for four years, a Facebook page for a month or so (look for George Africa) and we just began using Twitter (look for vtflowerfarm). With the demise of advertising on television, radio and in various printed formats, and a noted decline in classified ads by 70% over the past 10 years, I am trying to reach conclusion on social networking. Do I continue with this blog, put more emphasis on Facebook or work Twitter to the n-th degree? Is a combination of the three the way to go? Read this article and help me figure this out.




All sorts of social demographics work into the equation and in the flower business, any business I guess, you have to know your customer very well. Since fresh grown and picked flowers have a limited season, it's real important to get our message out correctly the first time. Gail and I have about given up on newspaper and magazine ads except for special events. We were about ready to toss the costliness of radio ads until Gail had a chance to pick up a three minute spot on Friday afternoons. She doesn't have to prepare all that much and tells listeners whats blooming, what is on special, planting how-to-dos, and her cares and concerns. Reflecting on her success last year, Gail concludes that the radio talk brings in a number of people including male construction workers looking for "Where's that woman I heard on the radio today?" Bring in the men and you eventually bring in the wives and girlfriends, parents and families.

I get a chuckle out of how new customers ask for "that woman" even though Gail mentions herself by name. I shouldn't be surprised as Vermont is the land of "my husband", "my wife" and "my girlfriend" even if the couple have been married or living together for years. There's a strange, nameless way Vermonters handle their relationships but as long as they leave with some flowers, we really don't care what they call each other. It's not as callous as that but I think you get the message.



Current data shows that as people grow older they are less involved with technology. I believe this may offer a misrepresentation because baby boomers were the first group to experience widespread exposure to computer technology and probably a portion of those in the current age 60 and up group either have not had computer experience, don't own a computer or don't want to learn to operate one. The next group to follow shows close to 100% exposure and an extremely high rate on continued involvement.

Even though I'd like you to be thinking about gardening and a visit to Vermont Flower Farm this summer, help me with this question about social networking. Do you ever read this blog, like it or want to move right along; do you have a Facebook page or do you use Twitter? I need some direction and you can help. If that fails, point yourself in the direction of Marshfield this summer and we'll talk when you get here.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where it's almost time to make a fresh batch of noodles. What flowers are pictured above? Amaryllis that are just finishing up. Reds, whites and Apple Blossom.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardner
Vermont Flower Farm.com

Small patches of sunlight intersperse a field of snow and balsam tree shadows below my office window. 14 mourning doves quietly peck cracked corn and eat millet from beneath the platform feeder. A lone red squirrel offers personal neglect for raptors as it runs across the meadow by the John Deere tractor. The squirrel is carrying--borrowing--stealing yet another cone from a bucket of Norwegian Fir cones that Gail left by the back door.

January is fleeting but the next couple evenings will be reminder to what typical Vermont winter nights can offer. Tonight we expect zero readings but tomorrow night the fire will have to work a tad harder in the wood stove as temperatures will be in the minus numbers.

January is the month when the Vermont Farm Show arrives for a midweek display in Barre, Vermont. I have been just about every year since we moved here in 1989. I work with small businesses and sometimes with farmers in my real world job so the show is a time to see lots of new ideas in a few hours. This year the old time farmers are more absent and if one hadn't bumped into me as his cane went thumping to the floor, I might have completed my first ever year without a good "farmer" discussion.

As I toured the show, back and forth, up and down the aisles, trying to squeeze into what displays I wanted to see, I came upon Carol Bryan and Richard Scott and their display for Carol's business, Scythe Supply. They are from Perry, Maine which is a town about as far north in the US as you can get. It's past Lubec and Eastport and I imagine it shakes hands with Canadian friends every day.

Bear with me a minute. When my dad moved us to Vermont in the early 50's he was intent on being some kind of farmer. Made no sense to the rest of us but as time went on, we had opportunity to see what old time farming was all about. Dad was 6 feet 6 inches tall before he started to shrink and he seemed to enjoy cutting hay for the goats and cows with a scythe he found hanging in the barn when we arrived. It was at that early age that I learned the words scythe and snath and began to assimilate the rhythm of swinging a scythe and hand mowing grasses.

As some of you know, I enjoy the poetry of Robert Frost and I maintain a few of his books in my library as well as a hosta in my garden named after him by his good friends and neighbors, the Lachmans, in 1988. Frost wrote a poem entitled Mowing in 1913, and he used the sounds conjured by swinging a scythe as he explained to readers that work is not a bad thing. I really like what Frost wrote and I like scythes too.....and I'm not afraid of work.

So I came upon Carol at the Vermont Farm Show and was immediately impressed by her as a fine business woman and by the products she sells. That's why I invite you to check out her website, and if you need a scythe, give her a call or visit her website.