Monarchs are back!  Didn’t see many this spring, but they seem to love our dahlias, so they are here on their way back down south for the peak of dahlia season and I couldn’t be more pleased about it.  They really seem to love the singles the most.  If that doesn’t make sense to you, flowers are often categorized as singles or doubles.  Singles are flowers with a single layer of petals, whereas doubles have two or more layers of petals around and covering the reproductive parts (Stamen, stigma, etc).   Most dahlias you’re familiar with are a form of doubles.  We do grow a fair amount of singles though, but we rarely sell them.  Cute as they are, they don’t last as long in a vase. They’re just here for pollinators and smiles.  The one in the photo with the monarch is called Pooh.  See.  Smiles.

We’re getting to the end here.  One more week of dahlia sales and that’s it for the year!  They’re gorgeous right now. If you've been holding out, this is your last week to savor them yourself or give gifts to loved ones.  To say “thank you”, “cheer up”,  “I’m sorry”, “you’re cute”, “happy birthday”, “I know I could have been a more cooperative child and cleaned up my room more, sassed less, and not rolled my eyes so much and I’m sorry for the added stress that caused  you while you were trying to raise three kids, maintain a household, and work a challenging job for an asshole of a boss….” or something like that.  You can write your own gift note.  You don’t have to use my suggestions.  But next week is the end.   We don’t sell them after the 14th.

It’s dry as a bone here.  Everything we do kicks up dust and fills your nose and mouth with the fine powder of soil unwatered.  We are keeping our fingers crossed for a light rain late next week.  It’s been too long.

Comer had pizza parties at Baby’s (the Comer Coffee Building) last weekend.  It was amazing and crowded and delicious and 3 Porch and friends broke into a dance party Saturday night and Mandy and I ate pizza 3 nights in a row.  We also found ourselves at the Comer Distillery  and the proprietor found the piano bench and busted out a ragtime ditty and dancing ensued there too.  Comer was happening! 

Each mildly hungover weekend morning, we sweated it out while painting the bus and it is (in our opinion) super cuuute now and ready for family and friends to enjoy for sleepovers. Just a few more details to be added and then we will share the results with you. 

It also got cute just in time for our big dinner party in the dahlia fields next Saturday!  We’ll be giving a tour during cocktail hour, after Seabear oysters are served and we couldn’t bear to have the bus be all dented, rusted and, covered in 15 years of dirt anymore, so we did some serious pressure washing, soapy elbow grease scrubbing, hammering out dents, grinding down metal, fiberglass and bondo repairing,  taping taping, priming priming priming, painting painting painting and voila!  Cute bus.  

If you wanna see her in all her glory, you can join us for drinks, oysters, dinner in the dahlias, a dj, and some cut your own dahlia action next Saturday the 14th by getting tix for the fundraiser here: https://www.theplatesale.com/events/dinnerinthedahlias.  It’s a one time thing, we aren’t hosting any other dinners or doing any other farm tours, so this is a great and festive way to see the farm if you’ve been curious. There is only a handful of tickets left !

That’s it for today.  We’ve got dahlia deals in the farm store this weekend (BOGO !!) , so come on by if you need some blooms and a little time in the country.

Happy weekend!