SUMMER WEEK 1

BOUQUET INGREDIENTS

lisianthus "roseanne terracotta", china asters, lemon basil

Each year since we started the farm I've told myself I am going to take July off, and each year I get a little better at actually doing it.

There are many reasons I make this promise to myself each season. First, of the growing months, our sales are slowest in July. Our florist orders taper because few people schedule weddings in the hottest days of summer. Our market sales drop off as people travel, fall out of their usual routines with kids home for the summer, or simply have gardens of their own keeping their homes full of flowers. Second, midsummer is a crucial window for preparing for the seasons ahead, including fall production and overwinter plantings. Easing the demands of weekly sales gives me extra time to start seeds indoors and turn over beds (because by taking the month off I mean taking it off from sales — the to-do list on a farm in summer is unending). And finally, if we want this farm to be sustainable for the long haul, we have to be mindful about leaving space for the rest of our lives. We've come to see July as a precious pocket in the growing season for our own travel, rest, and time with family.

At the beginning of the month I spent a few days with my brother, sister-in-law, and my sweet two-year-old nephew, and a couple weeks later Spencer and I traveled to San Diego to spend a week with his family. This is the first time I've left the farm during the growing season since we started farming, and I must admit it was a challenge. I have always struggled to step away when there is work to be done, and I felt overwhelmed by the mountain of tasks I'd hoped to get done before we left, the worry of blooms blowing open while no one was around to harvest them, and knowing I would return to a garden that July's relentless weeds had already begun reclaiming.

But I discovered that leaving town made it possible to be fully present with my loved ones instead of mentally running through the farm's endless checklist. The garden I returned to did look different from the one I left, but nothing like my fears had me imagining. Instead I came home with a renewed spirit and an eagerness to finish the season with the same joy and energy I started it with.

It's easy to forget, especially if you have workaholic tendencies as I do, but we've all experienced this — the benefits of time off are visceral. If you've been putting it off, I hope you're able to carve out a little space for yourself, too, before summer slips away. There is no work more important than your real life. You can borrow my mantra: it's just flowers.

Enjoy the blooms,

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