Important Dates:

May 1: Next drawing for the email subscriber giveaway!

May 8th: Next volunteer Day, here at the farm. 10:00-2:00ish. Let us know if you are coming!

Anyone up for another volunteer day? How about May 8^th? 10-2ish? This is what is on tap: we have had our pollinator patch space turned over and are going to hit it with some flame weeders and I am certain we can find a flower bed to weed somewhere. The tender annual seedlings have started going into the ground and more seeds have hit the trays to start. We ordered the pollinator patch seed (along with a 50 pound bag of buckwheat to use as cover crop throughout the summer season). Shoot us an email if you would like to come help. We have marked our calendar to dedicate the time to the field no matter what. Feel free to bring a snack to share or just for yourself. I will try to make some vegetarian lima bean soup or something else veggie friendly. No pressure, but come if you are looking for some behind the scenes at the farm.

This week was full of ups and downs, as life can be sometimes. It most definitely ended on a high note, culminating with some special visitors from Chicago, Perriee’s step dad and his spouse, chosen family you can’t believe you were gifted. We even had a friend drop in with a little daisy from someone in our garden club that we were not able to attend this week. It was a fun crossover of special people.

If you have not heard me complain about it yet, we did have the railroad spray some sort of herbicide past our house last week. I had previously been in touch with them about skipping our neighborhood after last year’s application, I guess hoping it just worked. Well, we happened to be in the Flower Studio the other day as the car buzzed by, sprayers pumping. I ran outside to throw a cover over some flowers budding, hoping it was not too late. We definitely lost any chance of our lilac blooming this year. It was hit the hardest, along with some forsythia and cherry bushes well beyond the bank of the track. I honestly just felt so defeated, thinking of how maybe we should think about moving. Sad for the Earth and all of her inhabitants who have nowhere to go, our neighbors who grew up here and their children and grandchildren. So, I summoned by inner Erin Brockovich and attempted another call after a doctor’s appointment last week. I called a couple of times the day it happened with no answer or way to leave a message.

The guy from the railroad who finally answered, and I played catch up from last year, reacquainting ourselves. Him, remembering I was the person from, “Nepton”, me taking it as a sign of sincerity, since we are in Ewing, and he would have to have made a mental connection to know our neighborhood by its nickname. Without me saying more, he said that the company who came through with the herbicide were asked to not spray the banks from the railroad crossing at the end of our road, past our homes here in Nepton, some of which lie within feet of the track. Long story-short, he asked me to shoot him an email which he would forward along to the people who manage the poison. In turn, I asked him for help installing the large, “no spray” signs we bought last year and never posted, where they would be most likely to be seen. I think we are making progress and have a little hope again. I don’t want to have to do mental math about why a plant is dying or worry about the food we grow being safe to eat.

Saturday, we had the pleasure of setting up a little table at Flock in Brush Creek for a brunch. We brought what I think is the last of our tulips, which was another little bummer, having really enjoyed the ones that grew this year. Only about 1/3 of our crop came to fruition and it was really fun harvesting them and storing them in the fridge to see how they work with and without the bulb attached. I am not sure if we did not water them enough, add enough compost or what happened to keep them from flowering, but I do have a, “phone a flower-farmer” out in the interwebs to get some info.

I digress…Flock was amazing. We ate there almost a year ago with our friends who raved about the chef, Blake and her wife Colleen who are running the coolest spot, only an hour away, with fresh, gourmet food and a cool atmosphere. She showed us the article out of some Cincinnati fresh food publication whose name escapes me,about Blake’s culinary journey and wanted to take us there after they ate there with some other friends the night before (it is that good). The timing to return was perfect.

Our dried flowers earned us a spot inside, and we thanked them (the flowers) directly, as it was a little chilly outside. Dried flowers are so cool, but so light! They can catch a breeze real quick! The venue is so beautiful, with herbs as centerpieces, and beautiful ferns and other plants throughout. It is a greenhouse so its peaceful just for that. We had our first cup of MJ’s Coffee Roastery coffee which we definitely bought a bag of. It is a small woman owned business and their bean roasting room is in a converted stripping room! Come on!?!? We are stoked to be able to get our beans there! Other places we have bought coffee from, something I recognize as a luxury, to be purchased with mindfulness, is BLK & Bold and Sript Coffee from, Cincinnati. When I was working full time at the fancy desk job we were on a coffee subscription from BLK & Bold, a black owned coffee company. Then we found Script from Ronnie’s Corner Market in Covington and had been getting our beans there, happy to support even more locally. Both AMAZING coffee, in our opinion. But to have a woman-owned business available so close AND we now know Madee on a first name basis, gotta get those dollars honed in more.

We sold a lot of dried flowers at the brunch, which warms our hearts to see others appreciate their beauty as much as us. We came home without all of the little jars of fresh flowers that we brought with us that had our first ranunculus, those tulips and some chamomile, dianthus and daisies that are sure to surprise someone when they pop open. We met some amazing new people, got some new email subscribers (welcome!!), ate the most delicious potatoes, traded for some bad ass art stickers, and felt safe and free to love out loud.

Have a beautiful week. Thank you for being here.