Greetings,

We’re rounding out the end of August, and the season is flying by. This week has been brutally hot, but every so often a cool mid-afternoon breeze drifts through the farm, and you can feel in the air that autumn will come soon. We’ve had a challenging summer, with extreme heat, minimal rain, and all of the stress of off-farm world. It can feel completely overwhelming, but we’re doing our best to remain hopeful, and with September on the horizon we are looking forward to the change of seasons and the opportunity to adopt a slower pace.

This week, we were fortunate enough to be visited for the first time ever (as far as we know) by zebra swallowtail butterflies! These exquisite butterflies are found from Florida to southern New England, and as far west as eastern Kansas. Though they are considered fairly common, they’re not seen too often outside of areas in which their host plant (the sole species on which their caterpillars feed) is prevalent. Lucky for us, their host is the genus Asimina, or pawpaw. We’ve hoped to see these butterflies on the farm for years, but it always seemed as though they hadn’t found us yet. This week, we’ve had several sightings, and it’s brought us a small source of hope and light during a dark time. The zebra swallowtail flies quickly, dancing around the pawpaw trees rapidly, resting only momentarily. Every time we see one, we have to stop to admire it. Our butterfly visitors have brightened our spirits and brought us a lot of joy during a tough week.

A glorious Zebra Swallowtail resting on a pawpaw leaf. We think they look like fairies.

We will be at the market at Johnny’s this weekend. We are grateful for you ongoing support and look forward to seeing you there. The market is Sunday from 8:00-11:00 am.

Produce Availability 8/30 Market

arugula
basil
cherry tomatoes
cucumbers
eggplant
potatoes
shishito peppers
summer squash
sweet peppers
tomatoes
zucchini

And, as always, we’ll have plenty of flowers, including bouquets, dahlias, cosmos, lisianthus, celosia, and eucalyptus.

Wishing you well,

Amelia and the rest of the Two Boots Farm crew

Butterfly Visits