Wow! Where the heck did July go? It’s actually kind of impressive how quickly the month flew by. I definitely didn’t do a very good job this month of posting weekly updates/thoughts for my devoted readers (ahem, all 2 of you lol). No but seriously, I wonder if anyone even reads these things?
Anyyy-wayyyy, July has been busy, stressful, and wonderful and sometimes all at the same time.
First, can we take about this heat?!? Lord have mercy it is HOT. I swear I can’t consume enough electrolytes to replenish the copious amount I am losing in my sweat. Gross. I know. Summer has made herself known. I see you summer, maybe can we knock it down a notch or two?? Please??
Along with the heat, summer has also brought its fair share of random and unexpected thunderstorms. One of these surprise storms was accompanied by some very strong winds. And unfortunately, we were faced with LOTS of pushed over flowers. Couple that with some epic poor crop planning on my part, and we found ourselves on the verge of running out of blooms. We are in fact STILL barely squeaking by. My hope is that we won’t have to miss any farmers markets and that we will have fresh flowers for y’all all summer long. I’m trying to catch up, but when it comes to growing flowers, they make the schedule.
We had a special visitor to the farm, Technical Sergeant Brogdon aka my littler sister. Laynie got to come stay with us for a week and boy did we have fun. Unless you don’t consider farm work fun (which she doesn’t). And being that Laynie has a major aversion to having dirty hands I can only imagine her misery. If the moans, grunts, and trash talk to the weeds wasn’t enough, her face said it all. She was miserable, I was entertained. Nevertheless, the work got done and she was a HUGE help.
To be clear though, we didn’t only do farm work. There were lots of laughs, cooking, wine sipping, and line dancing… don’t ask. It was a week filled with lasting memories that I will look back on fondly. And of course, it was only fitting that they were made at Growing Memories Flower Farm.
The next adventure July had in store for me was a trip to Michigan. My parents relocated up north last winter from Arizona (I know, big change) and I finally got the opportunity to go visit. Nobody tells you how strange it is to walk into your parents’ house and not even know where to find a spoon ha! Michigan in the summer was fantastic. I was blown away by how many flowers were in bloom, ones that could only survive in early spring in Texas. I swam in Lake Michigan, it wasn’t as cold as I was expecting it to be, and we ate a ton of great food. It was a wonderful trip… except for the actual traveling part.
I’m just going to come right out and say it American Airlines CANNOT be trusted. On my way to Michigan, I was issued a total of nine boarding passes….NINE! There was not a single flight that was not delayed and I found myself more than once doing the Home Alone run through the airport to make my connecting flight. It took 17 hours to get to Michigan. Y’all, I could have driven and arrived an hour earlier than I did flying. I showed up stressed, tired, and hungry. Thank goodness my mom and older sister were willing to make tacos at midnight.
Going back to Texas 4 days later was no different. My travel started with a delay, and then a canceled flight. Another 4 boarding passes and 15 hours later, I finally made it home. I vowed right then and there to never leave the farm again. Well, at least never fly American again.
While I was away for a week, the flowers survived, my husband took charge of harvesting, and I made it home just in time to build bouquets for the farmers market.
With all the intense heat we have had the last couple weeks, the flowers are showing signs of stress. We are doing what we can to keep them happy as we continue pushing forward through this heat wave. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I love zinnias, they are a reliable, brilliant, and beautiful bloom. But they are always the ones that let me down in a bouquet. Looking fantastic one day and on their deathbed the next. You can do everything right when it comes to harvesting but sometimes, they just decide to die. I haven’t figured out the rhyme or reason as to why some last 12 days and some last 2. But I’m working on it. For now, I guess like American Airlines, zinnias continue to be a bloom that cannot fully be trusted.
Okay y’all that’s all for now! Until next time, keep blooming friends!
