Happy Friday y'all!!

It's a big week of announcements.

  The Fall Plant Sale is happening now and the Farm Store opens back up for Fall season tomorrow at 10 a.m.   Originally we planned for 9:00, but the neighbors (and 20 of their friends) will be dove hunting in the field that hosts our parking lot until 10 a.m. so we thought y'all might wanna skip that part.

  Not to fear though, because Comer Coffee is opening back up this weekend too, so if you arrive early and want to avoid rain showers of birdshot, you can grab a latte and doughnut and check out acclaimed photographer Daniel Dent's art opening featured on their walls this weekend.  You can always pop over to the Comerian for a loaf of bread and then hop a block over to the Comer Farmer's Market that has really expanded its offerings this year.

  Mum cutting presale for waitlist people begins today!  Check your inbox for the link we sent you earlier this morning.  This is for rooted heirloom mum cuttings of the absolute best varieties for cut flowers you can find.  There's a lot of varieties on the market that look good on a website, but have weak stems, fragile flowers, low production, etc…. We don't sell any of those. We did the 10 years of trials, so you don't have to. If you're a newer farmer looking for a late fall crop to bring market, but you didn't sign up on the waitlist, never fear, you'll get access to these champion mums a week from today.

  Dahlia fans, subscriptions are on track to ship next week.  If you don't have a subscription, you'll have to wait a bit longer.  This has been the hottest global summer in recorded history and our dahlias felt the burden of that added heat stress.  As global average temps increase, the Southeast is slated for hotter and drier conditions and we've been seeing that play out over the years.  Firefly's are fewer and father in between, which saddens me.  When I first moved here, our local species of fireflies enchanted me to no end. In my eyes they appeared like emerald green embers that floated up from an invisible magical fire.  I'd never seen anything like it.  They seemed to be everywhere.  Sadly, I see less and less over the years.  This summer I've only seen a handful.

  But I digress…..I was talking of dahlias.  I mentioned in an earlier newsletter how the intense, full sun, and dry heat kept frying our dahlia shoots as they'd attempt to grow, thereby delaying their progress repeatedly.  As a result, we have thousands of plants, but many of them are a few weeks behind schedule, so we don't have the overabundance of flowers that we normally do this time of year and will need to delay our offerings to non subscription holders, until production picks up.  We'll let you know as soon as they become available.

 As always, don't forget the magic of Neat Pieces Antiques in Carlton, the beautiful covered bridge at Watson Mill State Park (both 3 minutes from the farm), the pottery shops in Comer, or for those of you that hang out till the afternoon…..the distillery and their saucy cocktails.

  We're praying for rain and feeling the first whispers of fall as the light comes later and shadows grow a bit longer.  We're longing for the days where the body aches owed to heat stress peel away and get replaced by the occasional need for a sweatshirt.

  If you get out this way this weekend, or Thurs-Sat of any upcoming week, I hope you really enjoy the space.  Mandy has put a lot of herself into trying to make it beautiful and inspiring for y'all.  I'm always amazed by what she does in there.  This time, she talked me into helping her wrestle a small tree in there.  All the while me saying “it's too big.  It won't fit.  Why are we doing this? It's just going to knock down pottery and make a mess, and we'll have to take it right back out.”  And of course, I was wrong and she was right and it looks beautiful.

  This week's tidbit is this…If you have someone in your life that you love and have been meaning to reach out to for a long time, but just never do…..go ahead and do it this weekend.  They'd love to hear from you.

That's it from me.  Be well and be kind and have a great weekend.

Steve