Greetings, farm friends!

*Mandatory lunchtime electrolytes- Pedialyte, sponsor us!*

It seems as though the weather has changed and we’re back to our regular Maryland summer days- hot and humid with minimal rain. We’re busy planting our last successions of summer blooms and working on seeding buckwheat in any areas that aren’t planted with cash crops at the moment. When it gets this hot out it becomes significantly more challenging germinate direct seeded crops and to keep recently planted transplants alive, so we’re doing our best to stay on top of irrigation.

Just as our crops tend to struggle through the heat, so too do the farmers. Our strategies for dealing with it during the workday are multifaceted. We can usually be found wearing long sleeves and lightweight, breathable fabrics, and adorned with hats to keep the sun off our heads and shoulders. Sometimes I like to dunk my hat or a bandanna in water to cool my head and neck. We always start the day with out flower harvest, but as soon as the blooms make it to the cooler we try to prioritize the high exertion tasks for the more temperate time of day. Once the weather is really hot, we try to focus on less strenuous tasks, like pinching, hand weeding, and bouquet making. We always keep Pedialyte popsicles on hand, and we’ll mix up an electrolyte beverage with apple cider vinegar and sea salt from time to time as well. And of course, we drink a whole lot of water!

The copious amount of rain we received recently resulted in so much growth on the farm! Everything has exploded in the past week. And somehow, in the midst of all the rapid growth, we’ve managed to stay on top of the weeds. The farm looks amazing, thanks in no small part to our incredible crew. We’re looking forward to sharing the farm with participants in this weekend’s sold out Eco-printing workshop, and again in August with those attending our Bloom and Flow event tickets are still available for that one!

*It’s a Barbie World and we’re just living in it! We’ve embraced the Barbie craze and this week will have PINK market bouquets (among others)*

We’re back at the JFX Market this Sunday, July 16th.

For this week’s market we’ll have bouquets, sunflowers, snapdragons, scabiosa, strawflower, rudbeckia, cosmos, and so much more!

Thanks for reading this far!

Wishing you all the best,

Amelia & the Two Boots crew

Heatwave