Happy Friday y'all!

The weather has continued to be oh so much nicer. We're smiling through work, enjoying each breath of cooler air, thankful for the bit of rain we finally got, and feeling imbued with a renewed sense of enthusiasm.

The first scent of fall has arrived as Tea Olive has perfumed the evening air, reminding us that even when it's not alright, everything is still alright. Heat comes, heat goes, plants live, plants die, bad days come, bad days go, and the world just keeps on turning right through it all. And sometimes the world smells like a happy song feels.

Speaking of goodness…monarchs are back. The first one arrived on October 1st in our seedling patch of dahlias, enjoying all the beautiful blooms out there. I first really fell in love with monarch butterflies as a university student in Santa Barbara, CA. We heard a rumor that you could walk out of our house, take a left at the street and go until the road ends. Follow a trail of sand to the beach and keep walking – past the Brazilians playing soccer on the beach, past the surfers and sun tanners, until the beach empties of people. Follow a little trail through the dunes, away from the beach, until you see a housing development and take a left on another trail that leads towards a wooded area. Wander in there until you find a eucalyptus grove and look up.

We did all that and we're met with the most miraculous spectacle I'd seen to that point in my life. What must've been tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of monarch butterflies in clusters hanging like living, breathing chandeliers from the branches of the eucalyptus trees. 100s or maybe thousands of them were fluttering about, around the clusters, around us, past the leaves, through the trees, looking for a new cluster to join, or perhaps a mate to connect with.

We lived in the most densely populated neighborhood west of the Mississippi, just mere minutes away from one of the most significant overwintering sites of the monarch butterfly, and nobody seemed to know about it. There were no kiosks, boardwalks, admission fees, or even other people. Just us in this magical little nook by the sea, surrounded by gently fluttering wings. Jaws fully dropped. Eyes as wide as saucers. Disbelief. Giddy disbelief. Absolutely amazing experience.

Years later, Mandy and I drove the bus back there and hiked in to see them again.  It wasn't as thick with them, but it was still nice to see.

One of the coolest things about them is their annual migration. They need these overwintering sites to survive each year, and they'll travel as far as Canada when it's warmer out, then back down to California or even as far as Mexico to survive the cold…often in eucalyptus groves on the coast. Even wilder is that one butterfly can fly as far as 3,000 miles over 8 months on the trip down, but it'll often take 2 to 3 generations of them to make the trip back north. They never do the whole roundtrip themselves. A butterfly will start a trip to its preferred grove, but the trip back to its northern home will be finished by its grandson or granddaughter (grand butter?).

They are big and beautiful and elegant. As a species though, their numbers have declined dramatically. Those groves are being cut down for developments, and their food sources (milkweed) have been diminished due to developments. Climate issues have impacted them as well.

The caterpillars need milkweed to survive, so it is important to plant this to give them a place to lay their eggs along the journey north, but the adults feed on nectar of flowers less discriminately.  They need it for fuel to get to their winter homes, so when we discovered that they love our dahlias, particularly some of the single varieties, we started growing huge rows of them, just to feed the monarchs.  We don't harvest them for sale.  We are rewarded by 100s of monarchs flittering about our fields and our smiling faces.  One year I estimated 2,000 of them in our rows.  It was so uplifting, because the year prior, the amount counted nationwide was incredibly small and looked dire. My college grove was counted at between 50,000-100,000 butterflies in the late 90s.  In recent years it got down to a few dozen.

All that to say, we are happy.  We don't take the gift of their presence for granted.  It's a real treat.  Plant some fall flowers to feed the butterflies (and welcome them into your yard) and plant some milkweed to ensure they can reproduce.  Do know that those milkweed plants will get eaten up by the caterpillars, so don't harm them.  It's a good thing!  I know that feels weird as a gardener/farmer, but it is the one plant that you absolutely should feel good while watching it get devoured by caterpillars.

I got so excited about the butterflies, I neglected to talk about the dahlias!  This is the last week for dahlias coming up, and we actually are getting a somewhat better sized harvest than the rest of the season, so order 'em up if you see any availability (we'll occasionally add more as harvests come in), and do swing by the Farm Store to get some bundles before the season is over!  We're hosting a buy 2 dahlia bunches get 1 bunch free sale in the Farm Store this weekend. Pick up one or two bunches for yourself and one or two for a friend! There is stormy weather in the forecast for Saturday, so we'll keep the Farm Store open until 6pm today (Friday!), and check our 3 Porch Farm Instagram for any updates to store hours on Saturday.

Attention, strong, healthy, considerate, hard-working people!  We're hiring folks to help in our shipping operations as well as with mum growing and flower bundling for the coming spring season.  These seasonal positions start in early February and go through June.  Check out the job descriptions, and if any sound like a good fit, do drop an application and a resume.

That's it for me. I'm hoping you are getting some kind weather too wherever you are.

Have a great weekend!

Farmer Steve