For you North Georgians who aren’t watching the weather….it’s coming!  Strong winds and cold weather are happening this Saturday.  We’ll get into the low 20’s if not the high teens tomorrow evening, so bring in your fragile plants.  If you can’t bring them in, cover them up and consider tying down the cover because the winds will be strong.

  Out here, we’re taking a few last grateful glances and sniffs at all the flowering trees and bushes that have been delighting us with their colors and fragrances recently.  Those blossoms will be frosted off in short order.

  If you are going to brave the weather and head to the Athens Farmers Market this Saturday, consider swinging by Lazy Summer Farm’s booth and purchasing some flowering peach branches.  Our friend and former employee Ty has been organically tending a huge peach orchard that looks like it is about to be severely impacted by the frost, potentially killing his fruit set that he’s been working so hard to develop.  As some of you know, flowering peach branches are gorgeous and we encouraged him to bring some to market for sale as a way to offset some of the risks of attempting to grow peaches.  With this deep freeze coming, I know he’d surely appreciate the support.

  Out here, we are just prepping as best we can.  I personally built what is quite possibly the ugliest structure I, or anyone for that matter, has ever constructed.  I built this sad monstrosity in an effort to protect a bunch of large Spirea bushes.  

  It started out as a number of PVC hoops suspended over the bushes to support plastic.  It woulda been fine on a calm night and that’s all I was planning for, but then I saw the forecasted wind and realized that the whole thing would collapse without lateral and diagonal support.  I didn’t wanna backtrack, or spend all day designing and shopping for fittings, or cutting lumber, so I got some duct tape and just started taping PVC pipes at all angles to take out the sway.  

   It’s hideous.  I'm not completely filled with shame.  Yet, I’m not not filled with shame.  To all of my construction mentors over the years, I sincerely apologize.  I’ve done you all a great disservice. 

   If it holds under pressure, I will be fine.  If it fails utterly, I will hang up my straw hat and enroll in night school classes to learn how to code or something.

   Rachel, Mandy and I are running around today, putting fabric and tarps all over the farm in an effort to protect tons of our little plant babies.  Mo’s putting orders together and Naw and Marry are stepping up plants and labeling pots for the fast approaching plant sale.

   We thank you for all your flower, plant and seed orders recently!  We’ve gotten some incredibly touching and encouraging feedback this past month, particularly about the poppies, and it really does mean a lot to us that they mean so much to you.

   Thanks again and do stay safe and warm this weekend!  And don’t forget to drip your faucets!