Ciao y’all! I guess I’m back to tippy tappin’ on this here keyboard. I hope y’all have had a good summer. We’ve done our very best to make the most of ours. We joined my folks and brother and sister in law in the Dolomites for a lot of deliciously slow hikes in mid June. When I say hikes, they were really mostly just leisurely strolls through Disney-esque mountain ranges filled with lush green meadows thoroughly painted in wildflowers. I’ve never seen so many flowers. At one point, I’m told, we were in the largest mountain meadow in all of Europe. Every inch of that meadow was covered in beautiful flowers. A significant number of those flowers were varieties we grow, or have grown here. We debated moving in to a log cabin, starting 3 Meadows Farm, and harvesting from the hillsides for the rest of our days. We couldn’t figure the Fedex part out though.

Hiking in the Dolomites

We did one 13 mile hike, but the rest were much shorter and it really is unfair to compare it to anything here, because literally every 30-45 minutes, you can step off the trail into a large chalet, get a spritz and a danish, or a macchiato, or a stein of beer and the most delicious rack of short-ribs you’ve ever had, all while admiring a gorgeous view in stellar weather. We made a point of it to stop at almost every one we passed. I’m a sucker for a delicious beverage of any kind over a view like that. It truly was a trail of delights.

After that we headed to Lucca to visit my mom’s family. Our sweet cousin was getting married and we were just about the only non-Italians there. It was hot as an oven in our 3 piece suits, but so fun to see my cugina so happy and to get to celebrate her wedding with the family my grandmother left behind as a little girl.

To represent a bit, Mandy and I led a midnight exodus 20 feet away from the dance floor and into the swimming pool…fully dressed in our finest. It took a second, but once the floodgate of ridiculousness was open, Italians started jumping in-in various states of dress. Hooting and hollering, hugging, laughing, and aquatic dancing ensued. What can I say. It was a hot damn wedding and they shouldn’t’ve put a pool right next to the dance floor if they didn’t want us dancing in it. We’re from the Georgia woods. We ain't right.

Jumping into a pool, fully clothed at a wedding…10/10, would recommend

We came back to GA to tend to the farm, take care of plants, give the crew a week off, and start to fix some broken things.

Here’s a list of just what I’ve fixed so far:

• 3 Solar Micro inverters
• 2 dead golf carts
• 2 non functional walk in coolers
• Dead tractor
• Broken flail mower
• Broken backpack sprayer
• Leaking ceiling
• Multiple plumbing issues
• Broken off-grid solar system at veggie oil depot
• Irrigation control failure
• And for a home project, we squeezed in the time to repair our sagging living room ceiling and cover it with bead board.

The list of “still broken” things is significant and seems to grow almost as fast as I try to shrink it. 

So, to outrun it (and the heat), we went on another vacation out west and got to see family and friends and it was cool and lovely for the first time in a long time.  Sweatshirts with hoods, beanies, fog, breezes, and occasional goosebumps.  It was divine.  We finished the trip by popping up to Portland to visit our old buddies, eat tacos, and have a few laughs.  The highlight of that trip was a 2 hour Yachtub trip.  We rented a boat that was literally a hot tub with a motor.  So we were in the river, in a hot tub, steering haphazardly around, listening to some 70’s era Stones and a little Michael McDonald for good measure, occasionally jumping into the river, then climbing back into the hot tub.  An utter joy of a trip.  Mind you, there were ginormous river barges on that same river with us. I have no idea how it's legal to do what we did, but it sure was a blast.

Don't mind us, we are just lounging in our Yachtub…

We came back to more cool weather and some much needed rain here. What a treat! Cool Georgia weather in August. I don’t remember that happening. The dahlias have loved the change. Our first ones are now being harvested. It’s always the Peaches n' Cream that come in first. Which is great, because everyone loves Peaches. We sent out our first 7 bundles this evening.

The yields will get larger and the varieties more varied as the days slip by. And slip by they do. How is it already mid August?

Our first buckets of Peaches coming in from the fields!

 \Speaking of Autumn’s impending arrival, mark your calendars.  Our heirloom chrysanthemum pre-sale goes live to all those on the waiting list next Friday the 22nd!  For the general public it goes live 2 days later.  It’s not too late to get on the waitlist and it's not a bad idea to get ahead of the curve this year.  Southern Living is doing a piece on our mums that’s hitting the shelves in September, so odds are demand will be higher.  We are doing our best to increase production numbers, but thought I’d give y’all a heads up so you can get a leg up. Also exciting is that this year we're adding bulk discounts for larger growers and some new favorite varieties that we didn't really offer much last year!  We sprinkled a few in briefly, but will be adding them to our full line up this year. For our local folks who’re planning a Fall garden, we’re launching our plant sale online on September 6.  The Farm store opens on September 11th, the same day as plant sale pickups begin. 

And a little off farm note.  Off our farm anyway.  Another flower farmer recently wrote a delightful hard backed children’s book about life on a flower farm.  Mandy and I brought a copy to our young niece and she loved it.  We read it aloud to her and played a memory game with the legend of flowers in the back of the book.  She was giddy.  If you have a kiddo who might be into it too, you can find it here!

A great book about farming for the kiddos!

That’s about it for us. Oh…we do have 25 baby guineas in a box right outside our bedroom door. They are adorable, but fragile, so Mandy, who is much more attuned to night rhythms than I, barely sleeps. A big ol’ snake was doing its darnedest to get through the porch screen or floor boards and start snacking on our little friends in the middle of last night’s thunderstorm. Alarming. Exciting. Tiring. But all’s well. They all made it through the night. She just needs a little extra tea today.

Be well! More cool weather late next week. Can’t wait!

Steve