Busy Autumn Days
Greetings!
Elisa and Karen cutting a hole in the greenhouse plastic for the inflation fan.
It feels like fall around here. The nights are getting chilly, and the sun is just beginning to peek through as we arrive at work in the morning. Frost will arrive in no time. We’re scrambling to get things done on the farm; we’ve got a long laundry list of planting and maintenance to do before the days get much shorter and colder. We’re a little behind on planting, but we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to get everything in the ground in the next week or so.
Our flowers are beginning to slow down, but we’re still harvesting lots of dahlias and handfuls of heirloom mums. Unfortunately it appears as though we lost the vast majority of our field mum crop to the rains, but we’re hopeful that our tunnel mums will make up for the loss. We’ve still got marigolds and eucalyptus galore as well. Aside from that, the fields are beginning to empty out for the season, and our harvests are shrinking by the day. We’re looking forward to slowing down in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday this week we knocked out one of my favorite farm projects- reskinning the greenhouse! Reskinning is simply the act of replacing the weathered plastic on a greenhouse or high tunnel. I used to hate reskinning tunnels, it always felt chaotic, stressful, and full of the possibility of tragic errors. Fortunately, we have an excellent and experienced crew, and after years of working together, it’s the kind of project we’re able to complete with ease and even a few laughs. It was our first time reskinning the farm’s greenhouse, which is a little bit more complicated than skinning a tunnel, as it requires two layers of plastic and carefully cutting a hole for the greenhouse fan. Fortunately, the operation went off without a hitch, and the greenhouse is bright and beautiful.
Dave, using a rotary plow to re-shape the beds in our high tunnels. Over the years the beds settle and become one with the pathways, so we plow or shovel new paths to define the space.
Our pressed flower plate workshop with Tina Haines is on Saturday!
Guests will tour the farm and make two ceramic plates using flowers from the farm. It’s sure to be a lovely time!
Registration for the event is on our website.
We’re back at the Baltimore Farmers Market this Sunday, October 13th from 7:00- 12:00.
We’re planning to bring bouquets, celosia, dahlias, eucalyptus, salvia, veronica, and Two Boots merch. We’ll have what is truly the last of the pawpaws and some ginger as well!
And, of course, the Build Your Own Bouquet bar is back.
Thanks for reading this far, we appreciate you!
Amelia & The Two Boots crew
It's Sheffield mum season and we love these delightful little blooms!