During the school year, I usually go to bed with a tired mind and a restless body.  These days, though, I’m typically going to bed with a tired body and a mind full of ideas for what needs to get done the next day.  I’m not that old, but it only takes so many 10-12 hour days in a row to remind myself that I’m not getting any younger here.  The work is good, though, and usually provides a tangible result that teaching doesn’t often give to those of us crazy enough to keep at it.  Right now, though, this farming thing seems pretty crazy.  After a wet and cold spring, we were a little behind on our planting schedule.  Now, though, we’re struggling to get seeds to germinate with all this incredibly hot and dry weather we’d had so far in June.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s been absolutely beautiful weather, but a little moisture would go a long way.  And it’s amazing how different 80 degrees feels compared to 90 degrees, especially when you’ve been out in it for 10 hours straight.

We have been hitting it pretty hard this past week.  I’ve been working down my long list of projects that always seem to get postponed until I’m done with school.  There is still a long way to go, but this place is (at least for the moment) looking like we might know what we’re doing.  We were excited to have our first farmer’s market of the season this past Wednesday at the Downs Village Market.  If you haven’t been, it’s worth the trip.  It’s a nice little market with a good variety of vendors.  The organizers of the market have been working at this for fifteen years now, and their efforts show.  

We were also blessed to do flowers for two big weddings this weekend in Bloomington.  Admittedly, Friday and Saturday took about everything we had out of us.  Thankfully, we had the remarkably hard working Olivia at our side once more, my mom came and helped again, and we even added Hannah (my student teacher from this past year) to the mix as well.  As usual, we couldn’t have done it without our supportive team behind us.  We’re blessed to be able to work with talented, funny, hard-working people who help make this difficult work that much worthier.  

I came across an Annie Dillard quote recently that said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”  I’ve been thinking about this quote a lot lately.  We hope that however you spend your days, you go to bed at night with a tired mind, a tired body, or a tired everything and feel as blessed as we do to do worthy work for and with like-minded, kind people.  We all deserve to live lives full of meaning, grace, (and local food and flowers).  

Come see us at the Downs Village Market on Wednesday from 4:00-6:00 this week!  If you’re interested in learning at the farm this summer, we have three flower-themed classes available.  Each of them have just a few spots left, so sign up soon!