Happy Friday y’all!

It’s been a gloriously beautiful week out here!  The weather has been dazzling in the 70s, with a gentle breeze that takes the edge off the gathering humidity.  Last weekend’s rain, combined with the continued warmth, woke up the creeks and marshland down by the 4th Porch (the little cabin I rebuilt in the woods after a crashing pine demolished the original in ‘21), and filled it with a chorus of frog song that weaves its tunes all the way up to the house clear across the farm.  Feels early for it, but it also fills you with the pleasant sense that dormancy wanes and life awakens.

Indeed the plum trees are starting to blossom and the first few red wasps of the year have been clumsily bobbling around. Mandy brought me a single witch hazel blossom to gratefully inhale, and the winter honeysuckle has been blessing us with its divine fragrance for over a month now.

Drawn in by the siren song, Mandy and I felt beckoned to the woods as we finished our chores last night. The sun was dipping behind the earth and the overall setting was truly delightful.

The hellebores are currently flowering on the hillsides, under the holly, pines, and tulip poplars.  Near the walkway down to the cabin, surrounded by still more hellebores, and under the generous and enchanting mulberry tree, the paper bush is bigger than ever and covered in fragrant flowers.

We poked around and explored all of it with a welcome sense of contentment. The last rays of the sun shone sideways through the trees. The sky was a myriad of colors and the breeze was just right. Truly lovely.

More and more poppies are trickling in with the warmth and our studio is becoming active again, bundling flowers and packing boxes.

Our spring plant sale, for local folks that want to pre-order and pick up at the Farm Store, is available to preview on our website now!  It’s just a preview, so you can start planning your garden.  The actual sale begins online on March 28th.  Plant pick-ups begin on April 2nd.  For further clarity, this sale is for garden plants (veggies and flowers) that we can’t ship.  Orders are placed online, a pickup date is scheduled at check-out, and your plants will be waiting for you in front of the store with your name on them on the date that you selected.

Today may actually broach hot-ish territory as it looks like we’ll hit 80 degrees and probably break a sweat out in those tunnels.

We plan on wrapping up the week by inviting the crew to join us for a beverage and a walk through the woods, so they can all enjoy the frogs, flowers, and forest as much as we did last night. We can all get stuck in our own zones out here, whether that’s the studio, an office, or even the greenhouses. There’s so much to do that you get swept away in the process and don’t have time to look up. We’re feeling more and more like it’s important to encourage team members to take 15 minutes here and there to walk around the farm and take it all in to remind us what we’re all working together to steward, as well as to be charmed and inspired by all this property has to share. It’s constantly unfolding in different ways and each week can be so different than the one before. We’re always consumed with opposing feelings…..”It’s too much work.” and “We are so lucky to be here.” The first feeling comes easily. The second one can grow stronger only if we attentively nurture it. It makes a big difference when we do. So sharing what we see with others hopefully has a similar effect on them as well. Simultaneously, whenever you call another’s attention to the beauty of your shared surroundings, it helps you notice them even more as well. It’s a gift that gives in both directions.

Speaking of a gift that gives in both directions….last Sunday I wandered in to Comer Coffee to grab a latte for Mandy and go….when I discovered 3 musicians set up in the corner and firing up their first notes.  As the minutes turned to hours and Mandy graciously texted that she’d love for me to stay and enjoy the music….I really did enjoy the music.  Not only were we in the audience having fun, but the band was clearly having fun too.  They were just letting it unfold in front of them, and I got so much joy from watching the keyboard player giggle as he occasionally hit a really high note that he found amusing.  His gift to us was not just his proficiency and talent, but was also the opportunity to share in his unabashed almost childlike joy at creating it in real time.  It tickled me to see him in the process of amused discovery instead of safely adhering to a tightly rehearsed script.

Turns out the keyboard player is coming every Sunday this month and bringing different musical guests to perform with him each week. The guests he had last week were awesome. I imagine the same for this Sunday too, so join us in the audience if you’re so inclined.

Have a great weekend and maybe I’ll see you on Sunday!

Steve