This Year Will Be Different, Part II: Lessons from Fae Flower Farm
Image courtesy of Sunnie Kim-Tiernan
In the late 19th century, Georges-Auguste Escoffier, then head chef at the Savoy Hotel, developed the modern brigade de cuisine. A former army officer, he brought military-style hierarchy to the kitchen, assigning each staff member a clearly defined role. By eliminating redundancy and streamlining operations, he dramatically improved efficiency. With over 25 specialized roles—saucier, poissonier, boulanger—working in concert, his system revolutionized the culinary workflow.
Growing up in a restaurant family, I found the militarization of something as indulgent as haute cuisine amusing. But over time, I came to see that beyond intuition and emotion, virtuosos rely heavily on technical precision, collaboration, and choreography—a tactical order of their own.
Escoffier modeled his kitchen after a far larger, more complex operation. Likewise, I think residential gardeners can refine their workflow by adopting strategies from larger growing operations. To explore this idea, I spoke with my friend and fellow NYBG alumnus, Sunnie Kim-Tiernan, owner of Fae Flower Farm, to learn how she organizes her work—both during and between growing seasons.
I’ve known Sunnie since she was (very successfully) growing flowers on her rooftop in Brooklyn. In 2021, she earned a scholarship to Floret Farm’s annual workshop, learning from the best. Now she runs a farm of her own in Greene County, NY. Our conversation was full of insights, and I’m sharing key takeaways below. While a looser, more intuitive approach to maintenance may suit some landscapes, these tips are geared toward gareners growing successions of vegetables or cut flowers. Hopefully, you'll find something to enhance your gardening practice—no matter the scale.
To keep things simple (and indulge my love of symmetry), I’ve distilled Sunnie’s advice into seven steps—just as I did in Part I of this series.
Sunnie’s Seven:
Step 1: Review notes from last year. Sunnie keeps detailed records of successes and failures to refine her approach each season. Much like planting a tree, the best time to start taking notes is ten years ago; the next best time is now.
Step 2: Create a shopping list. For a considered approach to buying seeds, see Part I. Ideally, order seeds about 12 weeks before your last frost date and stock up on planting supplies—seed trays, heat mats, grow lights, etc. Sunnie swears by Johnny’s seed trays for durability. As an alternative to partitioned seed trays, soil blocking is another great option (more on that to come.)
Step 3: Create your dream field/garden map. Graph paper works well, but Sunnie prefers paper cutouts on a corkboard to organize her fields spatially. Using this method, she’s able to move around different crops like puzzle pieces. Either way, accurate measurements help calculate how many different crops and successions you can accomodate.
Step 4: Compile The Master List. Sunnie logs all her varieties in a spreadsheet, tracking when and where to plant each one and noting materials to order (seeds, plugs, bulbs, soil amendments) before the season begins.
Step 5: Confirm your planting window. First and last frost dates determine planting timelines. USDA hardiness zones are shifting due to climate change, so even if you think you know your zone, double-check at the beginning of the season. (For years, I gardened in Zone 6B; now, the same spot is Zone 7A.)
Step 6: Create your calendar(s). I must say, this is where Sunnie shines! Sunnie keeps five (yes five!) giant wallmounted calendars on her farm to organize the following activities: seed sowing, transplanting, field maintenance, events and deliveries, and perennial maintenance. But what of us mere mortals? This year, I’m keeping it simple and just using Google Calendar to set reminders. Before sowing my first carrots last Friday, I created a recurring reminder to harvest them in 75 days and sow them again every three weeks. Your future self will thank you for these little reminders.
Step 7: Enjoy the process. Not everything will go as planned—some crops will fail, some tasks will be forgotten, and a chipmunk may take a single bite out of every one of your tomatoes. But as Vita Sackville-West said, “The more one gardens, the more one learns. And the more one learns, the more one realizes how little one knows.” Learning from each other and experimenting are part of the joy.
The fruits of Sunnie’s labor. All images courtesy of Sunnie Kim-Tiernan.
