It's the second to last week, or the last for those who receive a share biweekly, dear members. Hope you and yours are well. We are too. 

I was hoping to make you all wreaths for the last week, but my sweet annie didn't dry as I'd hoped, and I only have enough broom corn for our fall ornamental orders. So, flowers to the blessed end it is. And they are pretty. It's amazing how they've bounced back from the frost and the plants are just putting out some beautiful blooms. Maybe they know the end is near. A note about the fall ornamentals for those of you who ordered...I'd hoped to add some more fun stuff, but said fun stuff didn't grow as well as I'd hoped, so I sent you wreaths and fun specialty pumpkins and gourds. I'm pretty happy with how the wreaths have turned out, and hope you like them too.

This week's favorite is broom corn. It smells good, it's pretty, and it can be functional, you know, for making brooms. It's actually sorghum, a sweet heirloom grain. It's just so fallish.

This week's happy bouquets.

And for our friends at Tait Subler.

Now that we're slowing down a little we have more time for things like...

Papa's beautiful and delicious bread. Food tastes better when it looks good.

Throwing rocks in "da tweet" (the creek).

Enjoy these beautiful days, too!

Until next week,

J,M&E

Hello dear members! It's been another full week. I'm a few days late on the blog because well, it's been another full week. We were all feeling a little under the weather all week, and on Tuesday I decided that Earl and I needed a little getaway. We rented a cabin in William O'Brien State Park for Wednesday evening and threw a whole lot of rocks in the St. Croix River. It was just what we needed. 

This week was our last co-op delivery. Sniff. Our retail mixed bouquets have become an essential piece of our small farm business. It was hard to let go, even though we look forward to a break and reflection to plan for next year. We have delivered twice each week to the Seward Co-op, and once a week to the Wedge. The Seward will always be our first, beloved retail account. They have a beautiful, exceptional floral department under the talented care of Cindy, the floral manager. She has been a resource, guide, and new friend this season. We've learned so much during the last 16 weeks, and felt so grateful for this valued relationship supporting our growth. 

Wholefoods came to visit the farm last week, and we co-toured with Gardens of Eagan to show them what we're growing and selling down here. They were really excited, really positive and really supportive. We're working on the application process and planning to sell flowers to them next year. If you haven't been to Wholefoods and checked out their floral departments, try it sometime. They have beautifully marketed and cared for flowers. It's so awesome that they're actively looking for local farmers. We've loved our retail relationships with the Seward and Wedge Co-ops this season, and look forward to spreading the local, soon-to-be certified organic flower love! That's right, we're starting the process to certify our flowers in spring 2015. So excited to be on the cusp of a movement!

Organic certification, new accounts, next year's weddings, and field planning and seed ordering for next year! Whew. So much to be grateful for and look forward to. This is the third to last week of your share, dear members. The flowers have rallied after the frost. Even many of the zinnias that were nipped are doing their best to bloom again. Nature gives us frequent continual lessons in resiliency and making the best of what we have. In your bouquets are more lilies, celosia, and sweet annie. 

Loving the dusty miller and eucalyptus combo. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I love green. And simplicity. In life and design. :)

Hope you've had a wonderful week, dear members.

J,M&E

We had a good bit of frost last Friday. Much was damaged and some are gone. I was out of sorts all day on Friday and realized that evening that I just wasn't ready to say goodbye. I love our flowers, and have spent a lot (A LOT!) of time with them. They have been loyal, beautiful friends this summer. There is an intimacy in growing plants. You prepare a home, plant a seed, hope for germination, celebrate germination, tend the plant like the baby it is, prepare a new home, transplant, tend the transplant like the baby it is, celebrate growth. Most of all, HOPE for a bountiful, beautiful harvest, and celebrate and relish it when it comes. Mourn (and berate yourself a little) if it doesn't. The full impact of that intimacy hit me on Friday. I took a series of selfies trying to capture my feeling, and the field, and the sunset.

Really, this was the best one.

Now it's warm again. Today was possibly the most beautiful fall day ever. A touch warm, maybe, but so lovely. We have flowers for your CSA bouquets, but we're done with the co-ops next week. It's bittersweet like all good things in life. This season has been so intense for us. Early mornings, late nights, toddlerhood, powdery mildew, dahlias. I'm going to learn how to grow dahlias so help me. We are glad to slow down. Sad to let go of this season. I love making bouquets. Truth be told, I'm a little tired of harvesting flowers. But I can make flower bouquets and arrangements all day everyday. And I will miss it all.

Anyway, dear members, we have lilies and lisianthus in the caterpillar, gourds and small pumpkins curing in the greenhouse, and sweet annie, eucalyptus and broom corn drying for wreaths. I'm looking forward to trying my hand at some Thanksgivingish wreaths. If they turn out well, I'll send you all one with your last share bouquet.

We had a wedding this week. Here is a bouquet.

And a corsage.

Have a wonderful week!

Our best,

J,M&E

Brrr! We took out some winter clothes today and bundled up for our morning walk about. Windy, and very cool. The forecast says 36 on Thursday night. That's pretty cold for our flowers, and we'll see how they hold up. The lilies and the lisianthus are in the caterpillar tunnel, so they should be comfy. 

It's been a great week!

We had a visit with Tina Smith, Mark Dayton's chief of staff and Lieutenant Governor candidate, and Beth Dooley, author of many cookbooks. We talked about the needs of small farmers. It was really cool. They asked great questions, and picked many flowers of course. Some would have taken photos. Not us. Sigh.

 We harvested gourds and munchkin and casperita pumpkins, and they're curing in the greenhouse. They are so sweet. Don't you just want to pile them on your dining room table around a beautiful lily and celosia bouquet? Lilies are coming in your bouquets this week. They will open and be a beautiful deep red as seen in the first photo. They last longer when we harvest them not yet open.

The wind is blowing hard out of the north. That's a sure sign of fall. Our spring and summer winds come mostly from the southwest. I roasted cauliflower and beets today. And I'm making soup broth right now. I love fall. I love love fall. Breathe out.

I wrote this last year and it's exactly how I'm feeling today...

One of my favorite things about farming is the observance of the seasons and the structuring our days and lives within them. Fall is the season of dying and preparing for the winter. Things slow down and the days have gotten shorter quickly. When I first began farming a few years ago, I felt sad when things started to die and we began bedding down for winter. Now I look forward to it. While it's been tricky for Mike and I not to have those early morning and late evening daylight hours for work, really, I'm relieved when we're sitting on the couch at 8:30, winding down for bed. With a few full seasons under my belt, now I love the winter practice of going slower, sleeping more, reflecting on life and planning for the future. Fall brings warm, comfort food like squash soups with sage and nutmeg. During winter, we eat hearty roasts and put-up roasted and fermented vegetables and begin to look forward to fresh things. When March gives way to April and things begin the speed up, we come out of our winter cocoons, stretch our rested, plump winter limbs and begin to work again. I crave tonic, cleansing spring greens as I welcome the flurry and momentum that builds the wave that is the farming season. Summer is the bounty of it all, and flowers are the epitome of the bounty, if you ask me!

Have a wonderful week, dear members!

Our best,
J,M&E

This morning when I dropped off the flower delivery at the Seward Co-op, the young produce employee, Andrew, greeted me like other employees have any other Tuesday or Friday in the last eleven weeks. But today he said, "Oh are these your flowers?" "Yes, I'm Jennifer of Humble Pie Farm." "They're so beautiful," he said, "I'm so glad we have them, they make this a better place to work." 

Sniff. I really did tear up in the car. My little trooper in the car seat for an hour and half was making his water bottle splash and laughing uproariously in the backseat, city traffic was city traffic, and we were delivering flowers that we grew for the eleventh week in a row. So much to be thankful for. I've replayed that exchange in my head a few times today when I needed it. It's that, kind, kind, sincere words, that makes it all worth it. I've had a few in the last week. It's such a good lesson. I feel busy and scattered right now. It's easy to say I'll pay attention later when I'm rested. I want to really pay attention now. And say aloud the kind things that I think, not just think them.

We had a lovely wedding last weekend and some nice volunteer help. Here are the bouquets.

Giant bumblebees are abuzz in the field. Love them.

Fall colors are pretty.

Oh to throw rocks in puddles. Bliss.

Happy week, dear members! You are where we start from. Your upfront investment makes our success possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

J,M&E