Good morning friends, as seems to be the norm now, my musings for the month are a little bit tardy. There are always so many things on the never ending “to do list” and not enough hours in the day.

The first week in September started with two weddings at two different lovely local venues. We are very lucky in Kitsap County to have so many great venues and they are all very different. As I have said many times before, I love it when families choose locally grown flowers.

During the flower season I also provide flowers to other local florists and designers that are creating beauty for other local weddings. We really are building a wonderful community in Kitsap County of Farmers and Florists. Nobody feels in competition with each other. Each person is doing their own thing and we all support and cheer each other along.

Photography : Jonas Seaman ~ Venue: Farm Kitchen

Still on the subject of weddings, Will (my son) and his fiancé were in Washington again for a flying visit. They had their engagement photos taken - an upgrade from the original ones taken by my youngest son, from behind a sand dune in San Diego with their dog kicking sand all over the place! Sam also went to choose her wedding dress - and she invited me along. What an honor that was. I honestly didn't think I would ever get to do something like that as I had two sons. It was truly the loveliest afternoon and you know I cried - happy tears. Sam chose her dress, she is going to look absolutely gorgeous but to be honest with you if she chose to wear a paper bag she would look gorgeous. I am a very lucky mother-in-law.

As some of you might remember, my lovely friend Jess left for the east coast this summer. Jess has been documenting life on the flower farm for a couple of years now. At the beginning of September, the day before my birthday, Julie Rings came to the farm to take some photos. It is always a bit nerve wracking working with a new photographer as there has to be a connection. She came highly recommended by Beth from Cactus & Clay Ceramics and I loved her editing style. We hit it off immediately and I am so happy with the results.

September was a full of dahlias, after a very slow start they exploded into action. The dahlia field was honestly the best it has ever been. Each year I go through the field making notes of the great performing flowers, the ones that maybe perform but I don’t care for and the ones that are under performers - the later two go on the chopping block. September is also spent taking photographs of them so I have images for my dahlia tuber sale in the spring. Checking that everything is labeled correctly is also a very time consuming job but so, so important. At the end of the season you don’t want any confusion on what you are digging up….ask me how I know!!

We are also gathering as much as we can from the field to hang in the drying room so that we have lots of loveliness to use to make some beautiful wreaths this winter. The Drying room is getting very full now and it is a matter of constantly shuffling flowers around. This winter I am determined to create some big dramatic wreaths as I have harvested lot of amazing grasses and seed pods to use.

In the Pacific Northwest we are enjoying the most glorious October weather. I keep looking at the 10 day forecast to see when it is going to start raining as we are going to be digging our dahlia tubers up this month. If you get to dig when the sun is shining you consider it the best gift that you can be given. I know that so many people are dealing with hurricanes as we speak and I consider us very lucky to live in this corner of the world.

Stay safe and enjoy life to its fullest. Take the trip (you know I do!), wear your favorite perfume every day (I wear a little Jo Malone in the field every day as it makes me happy) and spend your time with people that fill your cup.

Monthly Musings - September 2024