Happy Friday y’all!

Let me start by saying, Wow.  If you’re reading this because you enjoyed the interview with Floret, we extend you the heartiest of welcomes, and I hope we can share some more things worth reading going forward.

This interview with Floret has been so meaningful to us! Check out the entire series on Floret's blog.

When I was typing away the answers to those incredibly thoughtful and intimate questions about our life on this farm in the wee hours of many nights, I had no idea that it would have the kind of impact it has had. At present there are about 600 incredibly beautiful and heartfelt comments from farmers, gardeners, nurses, auto executives, customers, cousins, former employees, and flower lovers whose kind words and brief windows into their own lives had both Mandy and I getting fully misty over here. Truth be told, your sentiment about her connection to her father and my cousin (Ms. Marilyn) had her all out weeping. They were so moving and the thought of replying to a handful while neglecting the others felt wrong, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to extend a collective and extremely sincere THANK YOU, from the bottom of our hearts, to all who shared a bit of themselves with us. We’re so happy our farm’s efforts moved you in some way.

Ms. Marilyn seeds lovingly bred here at 3 Porch Farm – full story in Floret's blog post!

I’d honestly forgotten, but Mandy just reminded me that our first flower shipment ever was a big box of ranunculus sent to Floret for their big book release, way back when. Our season is so early and we had some of the only ranunculus in bloom in the country at that time, so Erin put in the request and we were honored to oblige.

That said, we had no idea what we were doing and were so worried we’d do it wrong and leave her hanging on such an important day, but they showed up perfectly. It's fair to say that it likely planted a seed in our heads for that fateful day in lockdown, when we made the major pivot y’all read about. So Erin and Chris have played a role, big and small in much of our lives these last 15 years and “grateful” isn’t a big enough word for how we feel about them.

A big welcome from us (Mandy & Steve)! We're happy to have old friends & new friends here!

I know a bunch of y’all came over with an interest in getting poppies and we did sell out as a result of the high demand, but there is more to come over the next 4 weeks.  We harvest 3 times a day, so once subscriptions are filled, we’ll list more for sale.

Truth be told, this spring has been quite a challenging one for us due to the ever-changing climate. It’s the roughest to date. Colder than normal for longer, followed by a rapid switch to temps in the mid to high 80s for much of March. The sweet spot for all of our spring flowers has been clipped on both ends to the point where our season started late, and for many spring favorites, is all but over. Daffodils, ranunculus, anemones, and butterfly ranunculus all start to shut down with temps in the 80s, and that’s almost all we’ve had since we popped above freezing. We’ve got enough ranuncs et al. to fill our subscriptions but are devoid of the river of blooms our springs are usually filled with.

We'll be listing more poppies in the coming weeks (left) & our fabulous FedEx guy, Chad, loading up all the boxes of flowers to be shipped (right)!

Fortunately poppies are our favorites and they handle the warm temps much better, so we still have some beautiful blooms coming, but this spring might be foreshadowing one of those pivot moments we talked about. I see visions of fields of poppies. I’m going full Dorothy over here. I might get some yellow bricks and start skipping.

Fortunately, our mum cuttings are not phased at all by the early heat.  In fact, they’ve quite loved it, so the good news is that we have more of those than we anticipated and keep adding more inventory each week, so if you’re looking to grow some of these beauties for your fall garden, we’ve got you covered.

The rooted heirloom mum cuttings are thriving (left) & the crew packing them for shipping (right)!

As we swim through the pollen, we find ourselves greeted by some old friends that delight us with their presence every year. Easy on the eyes and quick to lift the spirits are the fluffy snowball viburnum, waterfalls of loropetalum trickling down walls of tea olive, and ebullient purple lunaria that carpets our landscape. We didn’t quite hit that wondrous occasion – almost as fantastic as an eclipse – when the Japanese maple is full with anthocyanins and blazing red, while surrounded by electric purple lunaria, for the pinnacle of springtime landscape spectacles. It's still a joy to walk through a glimpse of perfection each spring on my way to one task from another. That lunaria and viburnum combo is a close second. The maple woulda been the trifecta, but was only red for a moment this year. It too, sped rapidly through its development due to our summer of a winter.

The fluffy snowball viburnum (left) and vibrant purple lunaria are delighting us right now!

For you locals looking for veggie starts to get your garden going, the Spring Plant Sale pre-purchasing period starts this Saturday morning at 8am.  You can get a glimpse of what’ll be available here, though it’ll currently say “sold out.” Once orders come in, we’ll need a wee bit of time to put them all together, and you can schedule your pick up appointment as early as next week (you’ll be prompted to do so during checkout).  Plants will not be available for shopping at the store itself.  All purchases must be pre-ordered.  No orders will be shipped.  This is just a sale for local pick up.

For locals: the Spring Plant Sale is launching online Saturday morning at 8am (left) & the Farm Store is now open for the spring season & full of fresh flowers and goods (right).

You don’t need a plant purchase to come by the darling little Farm Store though.  It’s open Thursday-Saturday now and it’s filled with delights, so swing through the hippest tiny town in the middle of nowhere, grab your pastries at the Comerian, grab your coffee at Comer Coffee Co, pop on by the amazingly beautiful covered bridge at Watson Mill, and don’t miss Neat Pieces Antiques for the most incredible thrifting you’ve ever experienced.

Wishing y’all a great weekend!

Steve