My dad’s parents grew up in county Kerry Ireland and that beautiful green island holds a special spot in my heart. My grandfather, Patrick O’Shea, was born on St. Patrick’s day and spent much of his adult life as a bagpiper and a cable car driver in San Francisco. I’ve been listening to an old record of him singing an a cappella song about longing to visit the cottage he grew up in. He did eventually go back in the 60’s and took my dad when he was about 10 years old.
My dad took us to that cottage in 2018 and it was beautiful. We found out while there, that his grandmother used to grow dahlias there and sell them to the inn/pub to make a little extra money. I had no idea my great grandmother also grew dahlias to support herself. Full circle. Life is wild.
The cottage itself has the classic white walls (lime plaster) and thatched roof. There’s a little stream that runs by it and a stone bridge going over the stream that leads you towards the pub. It’s kind of the post card for Ireland. Mandy and I want to go back. Such a wonderful place.
In farm news, it has swung from ridiculously hot, back to cold and Mandy and I have been battling the wind every night, trying to cover our peony bushes with insulative fabric that basically acts as a sail when the wind catches it. Lots of fun. Every morning we rush around to take it off so the plants don’t cook and every evening we rush to put it back on after other chores are finished and before it gets too cold. Sleep is lacking lately. Temp alarms have been screaming and calling us to action in the middle of the night. Strong winds stir up anxiety that the fabric blew off the plants and rob us of slumber as well.
We’ve been doing the same thing for all of the plant sale starts that have been hardening off outside. Cover. Uncover. Cover. Uncover.
All the plants are looking great and we are quite pleased with what will be available, although we did lose the basil to the freeze, so that won’t be available. The plant sale goes live tomorrow morning at 9:00am. Online Only! The store will not be open! The Farm will not be open! When you place your order, don’t forget to select a day and time to pick up your order at the farm store. Pick ups begin next Wednesday and go for a couple of weeks.
Please do remember that Shopify (the host of our webstore) has an undesirable feature (from the perspective of us and every small business we know) wherein an item in your cart is not truly yours until you submit payment. So, if there’s only one pepper plant left and 2 people both have it in their cart, the first person to check out will get it and the other person will send us a frustrated email. I promise, we have tried and tried to find a work around, but there is none. No app, no plug in, no high end coder, no nothing will change this feature. Shopify will not allow it. They’ve assured us repeatedly. We truly apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Also, please note that there will be no plants available for you to select in person. The store will have flowers and all the lovely artisanal goods Mandy has filled it with for you to shop through, but plants must be purchased in advance and we have hired an extra team to put everyone’s custom orders together, so it will be waiting for you when you arrive. We are hiring a double checker too in attempt to assure all orders are perfect, but I do recommend that you also review your plants when you pick them up. That way, if something was missed, you can call Rachel while you are still here and we can make it right. Much better than finding out when you are 2 hours away and the only option is a refund.
You don't have to place a plant order to come visit the store. You are welcome to visit the store for flowers or vases etc.. It will be open to all with our regular hours through the end of May. And why not make a day of it? Here's a link to all the cool local stuff you can do on the weekend here in Comer: Click Here!
As for shipped flowers, we aren’t listing much for next week. We have a big week with subscriptions and with putting flowers in the store and the fluctuating weather, it has put a massive pause on the poppies. They are putting up lots of new stems, but this is the biggest pause in production I’ve ever seen in our poppies and it coincides strongly with the weather, so there’s not much we can do but wait for the babies to grow up. Subscribers don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. We just don’t have much surplus beyond that.
That’s it for now. Rainy today, but more consecutive nights of frost are coming, so protect your plant babies. Have a great weekend and a safe and fun St. Patrick’s day!
-Steve