Greetings, farm friends!

The strange season persists, now with the addition of dangerously poor air quality brought in from wildfires in Canada. The vibe on the farm felt a bit apocalyptic on Thursday morning as a dense, smoky haze filled the sky. The grass is brown from an unbearably dry spring, and we farmers are doing our best to care for our bodies as we also try to give the plants what they need to thrive. We’ve never seen a season quite like this one, and though we’ve been able to adapt and make things work, the challenges we’re being presented with can feel quite daunting.

*Thursday morning, with the fields in a thick smoky haze.*

This week’s influx of smoke was distinctly frightening, and something none of us Two Boots farmers had experienced before while working on farms. We reevaluated our plans for the week and focused on less strenuous tasks on Wednesday, and on Thursday chose to knock out a quick harvest in the morning and then move indoors for the remainder of the day. We were lucky to be able to make this decision, and I know other farms in the area didn’t have the same sort of flexibility due to sales commitments. I’m thankful that this is such a rare occurrence in Maryland, though I fear that as the climate changes we may find ourselves affected by fire and smoke more frequently. It’s yet another challenge we may have to learn to work with, and it’s not one I feel particularly optimistic we could overcome. I certainly hope we don’t find out any time soon.

*Larkspur season kicked into gear this week.*

On a lighter note, we had another great week on the farm. Summer crops are beginning to bloom, and there’s so much beauty happening at once. The larkspur harvest began in earnest this week, and we’re now beginning to cut yarrow, cosmos, and the most beautiful strawflower.

Somehow, it’s already time to string up our overwintered dahlias. We’ll be harvesting the first few stems in no time! It’s wild how fast things change on the farm. It feels like it was yesterday that we were taking the tarps off of the dahlia beds.

This should be our last extremely busy week for some time. We have lots of florist orders next week, but it seems like things will slow down with the end of the school year and the beginning of summer vacations. Every year around this time business seems to drop off a bit. We plan for it, and we appreciate the slight change in pace. Spring flowers are demanding— tulips and peonies need to be harvested multiple times a day, everything is sensitive to the heat, and the general demand for flowers is immense. Summer is a bit more relaxed, and we settle into a nice routine.

Upcoming Events

June 4th: Baltimore Farmers’ Market under the JFX. We’ll have bouquets, campanula, larkspur, poppies, ranunculus, snapdragons, our build your own bouquet bar, and Two Boots Merch.
June 17th: Centerpiece workshop on the farm- We will tour the farm with the sun on our backs while sipping mimosas and N/A beverages. Elisa will demonstrate how she makes an arrangement with seasonal flowers. You will then get to make your own floral arrangement to take home.
July 8th: Open Design Day on the farm- We will tour the farm with the sun on our back while sipping mimosas and N/A beverages. Then we will head up to the barn and you get to decide what you want to work on. Hand tied bouquet? arrangement in a vase? Flower crown? I will assist you and show you how. Please email me before the class to let me know what you want to create so I have the correct materials/flowers on hand and ready to go.
July 15th: Eco-printing & Bouquet Technique Workshop with Monique Crabb and Elisa Lane
We will have a tour of the farm before we begin the workshop and you will leave with an eco-printed silk scarf and cotton tea towel, and a bouquet of flowers you will arrange yourself.
The two eco-printing techniques are Bundle Dyeing, which uses steam to extract color from plants onto fabric and Hapa Zome is the Japanese art of beating pigment out of leaves and flowers with a hammer. You are also allowed to bring one small natural fiber item to alter with plant colors.

Thanks for reading this far!

Wishing you all the best,

Amelia & the Two Boots crew

Hazy harvests