Good afternoon friends, I am managing to put my monthly musings for August before we hit October! I am sure you know that this is such a busy time of year for me and sitting down in front of my laptop doesn't always happen like it should do.
August started with my boys and Sam my future daughter in law coming to stay. What a joy this was. I have not had both boys home during the summer for several years now. We also had Will & Sam’s English Lab Jurgen staying too. Life was full of dogs and chaos and laughter which makes my heart so happy.
The three of them spent lots of time on the tractor preparing the site where Will & Sam will be getting married next August - and Sam learnt to drive the tractor, so not only is she beautiful and very smart she is also a farm girl! Their wedding site is in our woods beyond the creek. It is looking so lovely down there - think Narnia…with twinkling lights and lots of flowers!
During this time I of course prepared the flowers for several different events, including weddings, a celebration of life and baby shower. All of life’s events can be celebrated with the addition of flowers.
August also meant The Golden Hour Workshop. I hosted two public events and then several private events. I used to host these during the day but after years of sweat running down my back in the August sun, I decided that hosting these events in the cooler evening was the way to go. Honestly, the flowers are happier as they also don’t like to be harvested in the heat of the day. It is such a joy welcoming so many different people from our community to the farm and talking flowers and everything connected with that.
The Golden Hour Workshop
August was filled with some very strange weather. July was so hot, but August which is more typically our hottest month was all over the place. I had two weddings on a weekend that it rained. The weddings went ahead as planned outside and everyone just rolled with it. They say it is good luck to have rain on your wedding day!
The dahlias finally started to bloom, it literally was painful walking through the field looking at all the greenery and buds but no flowers but once they burst into life there was no stopping them. The dahlia field, I think is the most beautiful that it has ever been. I am slowly removing dahlia varieties that I don’t totally love or that don’t work for me - if the centers blow open or the stems are really floppy then to the chopping block you go. I am also adding some new beautiful varieties and it is so exciting to see them bloom.
I had my yearly inspection by the State Department of Agriculture. This is so that I can ship my dahlia tubers out of State when I have my tuber sale in the Spring. Normally the inspector just walks up and down the rows looking to make sure that your plants are healthy. This particular inspector was new so he went through the dahlias with a fine tooth comb - inspecting all the foliage - making me nervous. I am glad to say that I passed and will be selling beautiful tubers next spring.
August was finished off my one of my favorite events of the year. A Freedom dinner at Ciderpress Lane. Such a beautiful event hosted by Kelly & Aaron Welk. Everything in connection with this dinner is donated by local community members so that all the money from ticket purchases can go to such a wonderful cause. I love to donate flowers and attend the event. This time I actually had my husband go along with me which was such a lovely treat. I always feel that you get to meet people at these dinners that you would never normally meet. If you would like to find out more about Freedom dinners you can read all about them on the Ciderpress Lane website.
Slow Sundays are now on the agenda, trying to not do too much. It honestly is really difficult to be slow when you are used to racing at 100 mph, but to have the energy to see the season out it is so important.
Do enjoy the changing of the seasons, but try not to race forward into the next one before the other has chance to finish. You will see no pumpkins here yet!