That time in the season...

I can hardly believe it, but, here we are, again.  It's that time in the season when we start dreaming of next year.  The drought has made growing flowers a bit tricky, but I am so, so thankful that Travis insisted on spending a 100 degree day getting irrigation setup in our field.  I felt horrible knowing that he was working so hard out in the heat.  He kept saying that he had to get it done and that it just couldn't wait.  He was right...from that point on, any minimal rain that we had been getting stopped.  Our flowers would have been very, very sad had it not been for Travis coming to their rescue!  It was amazing to watch the dahlias!  They went from being pale with dried up flower buds to bright green beauties full of nice, plump buds!

 I'm diving into planning for next season -- what to grow, how & where to grow it and how to sell it.  We've been very fortunate this season (not only to be blessed with our amazing baby girl!) to have had many business opportunities come our way.  Wedding dates for 2013 are filling up very fast and we continue to receive many wedding inquiries.  I love this part of what we do!  Also, we've had many florists and floral designers interested in purchasing our flowers.  We'll be working hard to meet their needs next season.  One more exciting opportunity, Bark & Bloom has contacted us about selling flowers in their shop at The NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  They will be opening in late October of this year.  Our supply to them may be a bit limited starting out, but early next spring should be wonderful!

Our high tunnel was delivered this past week!  I'm so crazy excited to get it built so that we can begin growing in it!  I desperately want to grow ranunculus & anemone, but am unsure about how they'll do without heat.  I'm exploring this with some members of  The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers...hopefully they'll have good news!  We may need to just do a small trial batch this year to see how it goes.  Wish us luck!  

What else?  What else?  There's so much going on & so much work to do...as always.  Weeding, planting (lots of perennials to still go in the ground), transplanting, tilling, watering, ordering for 2013, building the small & large high tunnels...the list goes on & on!  If you're ever bored.....  ;)

One more thing!  We have a new stall at The Freight House Farmers' Market!  We are located in the large lot in the row closest to the railroad tracks -- right next to Iechen's Tomatoes & Beacon Woods Farm.  So far, this spot has been great for us!  We receive a lot more foot traffic and have made many new friends!  Today, some of our sweet customers brought us each a John Deere hat & their little girl, Laura, made the cutest card for our little Celia!  So sweet!

I have to show you the cutest video of Celia that I can't stop watching...I love her and her adorable little laugh!  It's a little long...I love the whole thing, but maybe that's just because she's ours.  You can find the video here: Celia's Video.  Enjoy!!  :)

Productive.

What a fantastic, productive weekend!  We had great weather for market on Saturday!

A few glads blooming now...500{!!!} should be blooming within the next couple of weeks!

Love the lisianthus & euphorbia together!

Workin' hard!

"Are you the girl that was on Paula Sands this week?"  Yep!  Thanks, Paula!  :)

It's beginning to look & feel like fall...the goldenrod is just beginning to pop open!

We got almost all of the current flower rows watered {please send rain!} and mulched...with grass for now until we figure out which cover crops we want to use for mulch next season.  Look at how happy the yarrow is!...it might need divided & spaced already next season!

It looks like we'll be getting blooms from the helenium, too!

We have a ton of water grass growing near the creek that runs through our property...I really think this would look great as a bouquet filler!  What do ya think?!...such a nice, clean green & great texture!

Just an all around gorgeous day!

Even the chickens seem pleased!  ;)

...and Mr. Rooster........who somehow developed from what was supposed to be an order of all hens.  Hmm...better be nice, buddy!

Wilted.

Highs near or at 100 degrees with heat indices near 120 degrees is enough to make anyone wilt!  Looking around the yard, plants that never wilt are wilting and sad...there are cracks in the ground that I'm sure could send my little dog, Olive, straight through to China!

We need rain.  A nice 2-3 day stretch of steady showers would work wonders for the sad shrubs and tan colored lawns.  In the midst of this dry spell, the perennials that we planted over the 4th of July weekend are thriving!  Yes...I have been watering them nearly every other day, but still...the heat alone knocks me out!...still, they stand tall.  Without meaning to, I happened to order quite a few drought tolerant, heat-loving plants -- baptisia, yarrow, helenium...they seem to be loving this insane weather! 

Right before our extreme heat hit, I had the opportunity to help with a beautiful wedding!  I love doing wedding flowers!  We have another BIG wedding coming up on the 30th that is going to be really pretty!  Also, a few more weddings this fall!  So fun!! 

Good day, sunshine!

We had a picture perfect Freight House Farmers' Market Outdoor Season Grand Opening & Mother's Day weekend!  Blue skies, sunshine & a light breeze on both Saturday and Sunday!  Perfect! 

The first market of the season was wonderful!  We sold out of our arrangments within the first two hours -- I should have made more!!  On top of that, we sold a ton of flower bundles and had quite a few inquiries about wedding flowers!  What a great feeling to know that customers are enjoying the product as much as we do!  It makes all of the hard work worth it!  Thank you!!

The rest of Saturday & Sunday were filled with flower bed cleaning, weeding & mulching!...two full pallets of mulch are now laid out {on top of biodegradable weed block -- paper}.  It was A LOT of work {Thank you, Travis!}, but the garden looks sooo pretty now! 

Besides mulching, I delivered a beautiful Mother's Day bouquet for a friend & was able to get quite a few seedlings planted.  Half of the lisianthus, snapdragons & cardinal basil are in the ground...Love-in-a-Mist & Bells of Ireland are sprouting up!  LOTS more to go, but they'll all be in & flowering soon!...I cannot wait!