Greetings, farm friends!

As we move into June, we’re entering our quiet period. Though our summer crops are just now coming into bloom, wedding and farmers market business slows down significantly for the next three months, as everyone heads out of town for summer vacation. We’ll continue to toil in the fields and send out orders, but life takes on a more relaxed pace. Today we even had time to place our seed orders for this fall’s overwintered flower planting! We’re all looking forward to catching up on various tasks around the farm.

*This stunningly beautiful io moth made an appearance in one of our high tunnels this week.*

*Ms. Marilyn Chinese forget-me-not, a new variety for us this year and a definite keeper*

One of the major stresses of farming is managing irrigation. Last year we adopted a pulse watering system and set up irrigation timers throughout the farm that would allow watering to be slightly more hands off than it once had been. The pulse watering system has worked out well for us (you can search through old newsletters to learn more about that), but it’s still a lot of work to ensure that everything gets watered and fertigated regularly. We love being able to set up automated systems, and hope to have more of them at some point in the future.

This week, the solenoids on our main irrigation timer broke, or so we think. One Monday we realized that the timer’s batteries had died, and so our tunnels likely weren’t watered over the weekend. After replacing the batteries, the system still wouldn’t run irrigation— perhaps the battery death resulted in solenoid failure? We have no clue what happened, but it’s been a tricky week for Dave and Karen, our irrigation managers. When the system works well, it’s extremely simple and easy to manage! Automated watering has saved us tons of time and energy over the years, and we never have to worry about forgetting to turn off the water! Unfortunately, we’ve now learned that when our system fails, the issues are quite confounding.

Fortunately, we got some rain on Wednesday and we’ve managed to keep water flowing to the tunnels as needed. Our fingers are crossed for a full repair in the coming week. Farming involves constant problem solving and improvising, which, though great for our brains, can be quite stressful in times of need!

We’re at the Baltimore Farmers Market this Sunday, June 9th from 7:00- 12:00!

We’re planning to bring bouquets, poppies, snapdragons, veronica, assorted bunches of flowers and Two Boots merch.

And, of course, the Build Your Own Bouquet bar is back!

Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you at the market!

Amelia & The Two Boots crew

Waterworks