Happy Friday y’all!

We got some rain and we’re really excited about it. The fields were dry as a bone. Everything was crispy and you could feel the dust in your throat. Now we are renewed. The soil is wet with life. We celebrated by tilling the earth and shaping beds for our upcoming dahlia plantings.

Mandy & Steve driving around the freshly tilled dahlia fields!

This is a big transition period for us. Not only are we doing all the preliminary work to plant dahlias and beckon Autumn, but we’ve also emptied all of our tunnels of spring flowers this week. Piles of old and tired plants as high as your chest have now been scooped into the compost facility, where they will be used to make healthy soil for future plants to live in and feed on. Plants become soil, becomes plants. Season ends, so season can begin. Passing, passing, passing.

Clearing out the spring tunnels (left) & Mandy with the compost (right) !

Steve shaping beds in the dahlia fields!

As we began to wrap up the flower portion of our spring, we had a nice collaborative review of our processes. Sarah has studied Lean Principles and has the kind of brain that excels at implementing systems into departments. For the last 3 years she’s consistently evaluated and re-evaluated the chrysanthemum team's systems, finding ways to cut out wasted motion and time, in an effort to make jobs more efficient and more pleasant, so that they day goes faster and smoother. It’s made quite an impact. To pack 300-400 boxes in a day used to take all hands on deck, right up until the very end of the day. But now, they tend to finish by noon.

She recently brought that skill set over to our flower packing team, gave a TED talk on the Lean Principles, observed and timed our stations, and gave further suggestions for how to shave off motion and time. Prior to that, but based off the mum team's example, Mandy spent a weekend retrofitting the whole studio to fit Naomi's goals of tighter processes. Naomi has picked it up quickly and is fine tuning things even further. We expect dahlia season and next spring’s flower shipping to be much more efficient and pleasant, with the ultimate goal of being able to get more happy poppies into more happy people's hands.

Sarah leading our efficiency workshop in the studio!

This spring has had its crop losses for sure, but it's been the smoothest spring we’ve ever had. Clearly defined roles, well refined systems, and highly professional staff that all know their jobs, working well collectively and individually, and just all around getting things done like pros. We couldn't have felt more supported through a burly spring than we did by this team. We’re super grateful to all of them.

Naomi is off to new adventures after next Friday, but will be returning to us for next spring’s flowers, which we are super excited about. She’s fast as lightning in that studio and always cheerful and kind. On her way out, she’s gonna head up a 3PF talent show, which has some excited and some terrified, but I’m sure it will be a ton of fun.

If you've received flowers this season, Naomi has packed them for you (left)! A few of the team during our lunch break – most likely looking at cute photos of the farm animals (right)!

We are officially now selling unrooted heirloom mum cuttings to California and beyond!  The department of ag prohibits us from sending rooted mums to CA due to the European Corn Borer which could hide out undetected in its roots, but they have just given us the okay to send unrooted cuttings, and we recently sent 300 to one customer.

That trial run was a success, so we’ve made it official and have opened up sales not only to California, but also to experienced growers all over the country. Unrooted cuttings are for more experienced growers who are comfortable rooting their own plants. We guarantee to get fresh cuttings to you, but you are responsible for doing the rest. We don’t recommend this for everyone, but it’s a perfectly viable (and cheaper) way to expand your mum plant collection if you’re set up and ready to root them as soon as they arrive.

We are not shipping unrooted mum cuttings to California & beyond!

If you’re root curious, but have never done it, you can check out this link to see the steps involved, but we still only recommend this approach for more experienced folks since this is an “as is” purchase.  You should try rooting out your own cuttings successfully before purchasing these.

Flower lovers, Fall Dahlia Subscriptions go on sale today!  This is a subscription that tends to sell out really fast, so jump on it if you’re interested!  4 weeks of beautiful dahlias with full vase lives, sustainably grown, shipped right to your door.

Fall Dahlia Subscriptions are now on sale – perfect for Mother's Day gifts (left). We have fresh poppies in the Farm Store this week (right)!

The shelves are packed with fabulous Mother's Day gifts in the Farm Store!

Locals, there’s only 3 weeks left at the Farm Store, so come get everything you need for Mother’s Day gifts!  Don’t forget to make a day of it and stop by all the cool Comer hot spots, especially on Saturdays.

Have a great weekend!!

Steve