Greetings! It's been another week of living the dream. The Civilian Conservation Corps came and weeded the whole field like crazy, and pulled out old plants. It was so awesome. They're just doing their thing, but I tried to impress upon them how very much it means to us. They can do work in a few hours that would take the two of us three days. Which we don't have. Afterward we had a little flower farmer Q&A and picked flowers of course. Something was wrong with my camera, but check out these cutie-patooties anyway. It was so sweet to see all 15 or so of these hard-working young adults leave with their jars of flowers for "grandma's birthday", or "tonight's first date" or "6 years with my girl". I loved it.

The lisianthus is coming in oh so beautifully. 

Farmer Mike is 6'6" and happy to look up to the continually growing broom corn. How tall will it end up? I guess we'll all find out!

We're looking forward to fall flowers; the rich orange and red lilies in the caterpillar tunnel, broom corn, and jewel-toned celosia. We also have these fall ornamental sassy little munchkin pumpkins and gourds that are exploding out of their rows and climbing other flowers.

We snuck away this morning and drove to the Park and Ride at the MOA, then took a big bus to the...State Fair! Mike and I hadn't been since childhood, and needed to bring our little tractor lover to see the newest Kubotas and big old vintage tractors. It was so fun! I'm pretty certain that Earl's highlight was riding the Express bus. He took a long nap after we got home this afternoon and his first words upon waking were "I ride da big bus." Best food: MN grown apples with caramel. Yum.

I also fell in love with some new chicken breeds. Our chickens are great layers and we love them, but I really want to get some heritage breed babies next year. Like this lovely lady. Such a stylish 'do.

Happy week to you and yours. It's the last week of summer for many, and we look forward to the new growth and opportunities the school year brings. 

Best,

J,M&E

We've had a delightful week, dear members. 

Thanks to those who attended our Member Celebration. It was lovely. Good folks, flowers, food, fun. Of course I don't have any photos except one or two of the kiddos playing in the sandbox (a group of happy boys, I mean ninjas and super heroes) and the bouquet results of the flowers everyone picked at the end of the evening.

That was, hands down, my very favorite part. I love to see happy people in our flower field with their clippers, just snipping away, and smiling. I love it. 

We're still growing flowers, harvesting flowers, making bouquets, repeat. It's still awesome. This week I'm sending you zinnias mostly. They're so beautiful and cheerful. The powdery mildew everywhere is something fierce this season, and it's really affecting our zinnias, all planting successions. So, while we've been doing our best to nurse them along with various certified organic guideline approved sprays, they're on their way out. The thing about zinnias is that they don't last exceptionally long in a vase. But they're so lovely. Enjoy. 

Continue to have a great week, and weekend!

Best,
J,M&E

It's high summer, friends. Deep summer. It only goes downhill from here. :)

I write this looking out my back sliding glass window; soybeans and corn to the east, waterway and Bossy fields due north, and our little bird feeder that we've stopped filling as of late because the thirteen lined ground squirrels (seriously, that's their name) and big blackbirds heard about it and were emptying it every three hours. Everything is a little more brittle, looks a little older, the green is a little less brilliant, and oh the weeds. There are so many weeds this year, and powdery mildew everywhere. I guess that's what we get with a cool, wet spring and summer, and a long long cold cold winter.

I kind of feel like that too, a little brittle and a little older, and my color is probably a little less brilliant. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this work. I'm so grateful to be able to work with the earth, outside, with FLOWERS, which are possibly one the greatest gifts of nature's many, many, and with my family, and, and, and. The reasons why I love my job are endless. Right now I'm a little tired. We're at our halfway point; week 8! Wow. We've learned so much this year. 

I went out during Earl's nap this late morning and pulled old plants, and pruned medium aged plants, and generally surveyed the field. We've learned so much this year. I have so many ideas for next year. One huge learning for us is the utmost importance of an abundant variety of quality filler. Plants like feverfew, queen anne's lace, and greenery. Honestly, I underestimated planting, and harvesting enough, and sometimes, especially at the beginning of the year, we could have used more. We were very focused on our focal flowers. So there's that. And there's the beauty and overall awesomeness of landscape fabric. Because the twenty-year, durable variety that we can reuse again and again is expensive, we only invested in 2 rolls of 220 foot fabric this season, hoping to rely on straw for the rest of our weed control. Oh no. That was not to be. First of all, our first batch of early straw had tons of oat seeds in it, so the past few weeks' weeding have been oat plants. They are pretty. Maybe I should add them to bouquets. We learned so well that straw is not really that effective. Granted the rows where we really matted it down required less weeding, still, we've spent a lot of time hand-weeding our strawed beds. Hand-weeding because we can't wheel-hoe through straw. It's made more work. Anyway, next year we'll be buying some more reusable landscape fabric. A lot more.

I always focus on the learning, on what's wrong and what can be made better. I do think this is good, but only with balance. I started writing about some things that are going well to balance the previous paragraph, but I felt too uncomfortable. I'll just let you judge for yourselves when you come to our Member Celebration on Saturday! Please come! We're grilling, making flower wreaths and bouquets and big bubbles, going for a tractor tour of the whole farm, including Gardens of Eagan and generally giving you and yours lots of love.

The lisianthus is coming on and it's so pretty. The lilies will be blooming in time for the last couple of weeks of the share. Thanks for your support, dear members. Have a great week!

Best,
J,M&E

"I drive da tractor, mama."

Greetings! Week 7! Wow. We had a busy, gratifying weekend of Gardens of Eagan's Organic Certification birthday festivities.

Saturday's Open House with flowers and wreaths and children and dogs.

Sunday's Dinner on the Farm with families and good food and connection and of course, flowers.

It's so nice to be a part of our community that supports local food and flowers. And small family business.

This week we have new deep summer flowers coming up like jewel-toned celosia, intoxicating lemon basil flowers, and sweet little globe amaranth flowers in reds, pinks and a glorious bright purple. I love the different tones of the season. It's high summer, folks.

Which reminds me, please come celebrate yourselves on Saturday August 16th from 4-7ish at Humble Pie Farm. We'll provide drinks and food, and flowers. We'll blow bubbles with kiddos, tour the flowers, and give you lots of love as is due. Hope to see you here!

Our best,

Jennifer, Mike & Earl