Happy Friday Y’all!

Feels good to be closing out another busy week and edging towards a slower season on the farm. Summer is our time to regroup and recover at 3 Porch. Our employees pare back their hours, take trips, tend their own gardens, nap in the a/c, and as best as possible, avoid as much of the intense stress that farming in a Georgia summer exacts on your body. There will be some brutal days in the fields doing all that’s required to prep and plant 9,000 dahlias, but they’ll be exceptions and not rules. I swear I’m much older than I would’ve been if I didn’t spend a decade laboring all day, 7 days a week, in the long Georgia summers. My message to all you young southern farmers….wear sunscreen, wear a big hat, wear long sleeves, drink lots of electrolytes, and try and find ways to take care of yourself.

I know it’s hard…maybe impossible, to start a farm and simultaneously take care of yourself. I really haven’t seen it done. But you can at least do the hat, shirt, sunscreen, and hydration. It is amazing how quickly the years pass and the incurred stresses and ailments accumulate when not addressed. So, at this later stage of our farm, we found the best way to take care of our staff and ourselves is to avoid the intense bodily stress of field work at peak heat. Early mornings, midday in the a/c, low production, short weeks, and long vacations are our summer aims. Sustainability has many faces.

Naomi organizing the box trucks on her last day at the farm!

Speaking of young farmers, we just celebrated Eh Plaw’s birthday and Naomi’s farewell this week with a fun potluck. Naomi is off to get married then on to her annual gig as a hiking guide in all the beautiful parts of the country. We have the kindest people in our crew…year round and seasonal. And boy, can they cook! Yum!

Check out our colorful new seed packets on the back wall of the Farm Store!

The Farm Store is open this week, but will be CLOSED NEXT WEEK!!

5+ seed packs = free milkweed seed pack // $60+ in seed packs = free shipping!

For all you flower loving gardeners out there, we are doing a seed special for the next couple of weeks. If you buy 5 packs of seeds, you get a free pack of milkweed seeds!  We’re trying to help the monarch butterflies by getting their host plants disseminated throughout the country, so we're giving a bunch away!  This is one plant that you don’t wanna spray for pests.  If you see a bunch of caterpillars chewing it up, that’s the goal!  The flowers are lovely, but the real benefit is that it feeds this amazing migrating butterfly in the caterpillar stage and this fascinating species is in desperate need of more…pretty much everywhere.

As an added bonus, if you buy over $60 in seeds, you’ll get free shipping on all your seeds as well, so free shipping, plus a free packet of milkweed seeds! Free shipping is not applicable to non-seed items.

Bringing in the campanula harvest this week!

Flower lovers, as I write this we still have some campanula available, and we had sold out of dahlia subscriptions, but just added a few more!

Mum team bagging up mums for shipping this week!

There’s still time to get your mums in the ground and Kelvin Mandarin, Pink Fleece, and Jefferson Park (my favorite) are all on sale!

This is last call for dahlia tubers. Starting in 2 weeks, we’re going to plant everything we have left, so if you’d like to grow some heat tolerant varieties, hop on it now before we nestle them into the earth.

Be sure to order your dahlia tubers in the next couple of weeks!

Don’t forget!!! The Farm Store is open this weekend, but closed next week!!!!  We’re looking to be overcast, but pleasantly peaking in the low 80s, so it’s a great time to do a Comer tour and grab coffee, hit the market, thrift shop, see a blown glass demo, visit the covered bridge, and walk along the river.  Check out our recommendations for things to do in Comer here.

Whatever you do, I hope you have a great weekend!

Steve