Important dates:

Weekly: preorder bouquet drop off at LilJumbo Coffee Company for pickup between 9 and 2 on Saturdays. Call or text or email us ahead of time to order yours anytime by Friday morning when we cut flowers. If you went the past couple of weeks, you might have seen what we are serving up these days. They look good. Just sayin. Please get a cup of coffee there when you can Thursdays through Sundays.

September 1, 2025: monthly email subscription giveaway drawing.

September 21, 2025: SAVE THE DATE! We will be hosting a sound bath + flower day here at the farm. More details to come but it is going to be on a full-moon so lets get together!

The last leg of our radiation adventure has finally come to a close. I ended up staying home for the week, taking the drive to Northern Kentucky for the last five days of treatment. Perriee came down with a cold over the weekend, so we both thought best for me to not stay with other folks and keep our germs at home. Since she stayed home from farm school on Monday, I was able to drive myself anyway. One of the people I was planning on staying with was starting a new job last week so I did not want to take a chance at interfering with that! It sounds like a pretty amazing gig, working with healthy food at an organic farm and teaching people about the importance of eating good (huge understatement, I am sure, but you get the jist).

By staying home I had the opportunity to cut flowers for another local flower farmer, The Valley Floret, who arranged a bouquet bar for the local teachers as back-to-school treat. We thought it was pretty amazing that she asked us to throw in some blooms for the day and are always thrilled to support educators in any way possible. There is something special about the flower farming community that tends to feel more collaborative and supportive then competitive. We also got to pick some green beans at the neighbors’ house which might sound boring but felt so extravagant, reaching up in the tunnel of beans to pick food grown and shared by friends.

Due to the commuting to the city this week, we made the most of it by eating some good food at a couple of our favorite places we don’t get to visit too often, living out here. There were two days in a row at our favorite Thai takeout place in Clifton, Thai Express, where I brought home some of their chicken galangal soup and some noodles for the two of us to share one day. The other visit there was with my amazing friend who spent her day as my copilot. We picked up some food and visited Sawyer Point to eat and I drove her past our old house, because that is what you do with friends in your old city, right? I was also able to personally deliver a fresh bouquet to the August email subscription winner and dropped off some fresh wraps to LilJumbos on Friday morning on my way into town for my last visit.

Thursday, Perriee and I spent the day together, bringing Tuxie to his dental appointment at Licking Valley Animal Hospital first thing, then milling about in Covington after my appointment to eat at Amerasia (yes, I ate there a couple of weeks ago) and to check out an amazing art supply store owned and operated by our newfound friend, Kit, Artmarkit! She was amazing to talk to, and we decided after our brief meeting that we will be collaborating somehow in the future. If you are looking for art supplies for any project you are working on, you should really check it out before hitting up a big retailer. She is a kind human, the place is fantastic, and it is next door to a really cool looking Mexican restaurant that I wish I had room in my belly to try out.

I was introduced to her store last week while visiting my friend who is moving out of Covington. While packing up, she gathered a big stash of her old arts and crafts supplies to donate to the store, including an array of gift bags that we got to choose from to take our finds home in when we stopped in to shop. Funny enough, we did not purchase anything art-supply related. I got the coolest house dress, two books, both hardcovers (one about the Women’s March which we both attended in 2017 with my sibling and the other about Kentucky with a forward by Wendell Berry), a couple of packs greeting cards, and an atlas that my friend had incidentally donated just days before. It was just a really great experience speaking with another business owner who also happens to be queer and navigating the world these days. She has curated a space that is obvious when walking in that it is really for every body. There is nothing more comforting then to see even the smallest rainbow flag on display when walking into a small business.

I have to shout out once more all of the amazing patients who I saw each day at the radiation center. Some older then me, some were maybe younger but all tough as nails and doing a thing probably none of us ever dreamed we were capable of. Since our appointments are generally at the same time each day, you would get to know some faces day after day, and even their names because of getting called back for our appointments. One of my lifelong friends called my journey, “Radiation Summer Camp” and it really is apropos, complete with my fellow “campers” who I truly will always remember as a huge part of my support team. Not permitting family or friends in the treatment waiting room, it was just so powerful knowing that in our little private area there was no question that all of us had some type of cancer. Most days we sat in silence, waiting our turns as some fancy remodeling HGTV show played on the tv.

Towards the end of my four weeks, I got to talking to some folks outside of our regular hellos and goodbyes, who shared openly about their experiences, the type of cancer they were battling and how many weeks of radiation they were in for. There was no need for a pitiful, “I’m sorry this happened to you” as we were all in it together, which felt kind of empowering. We got to encourage the “new kid” on her first day. I passed out a few Loving Farm stickers in the waiting room a couple of times and briefly shared about this newsletter, in hopes of keeping in touch somehow, as you do at the end of summer camp. Regardless of if I see any of them again, I will carry them all with me forever.

We celebrated the end of treatment at Turtleback Ridge on Saturday evening with so many amazing friends, including Violet and the Newsroom moving us with their hypnotic voices and mesmerizing strings, making me feel so special and loved. LilJumbos served up some delicious food and of course, the beer was tasty. Some friends from Lexington came back and stayed the night in the Flower Studio, bringing a beautiful homemade flan and frozen wild turkey breast that I cannot wait to cook up. We had our first meal at the new farm table in the Warehouse the following morning, complete with a visit from another friend up the road who stayed for a spell and chatted over some coffee. I am so happy to be home again. There is no place like home.

Perriee’s Liquid Laundry Soap recipe:

8 ½ cups of water

½ cup borax

½ cup arm and hammer washing soda/powder

1 cup castille soap

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tbsp salt

Mix in a large stock pot until it dissolves. She said she has warmed it on the stove but take care not to let it boil over. Let cool and pour into an old big brand jug.

It is a little clumpy as you pour it into the washing machine, so if you have a comforter or something bulky, you may need an extra rinse. You can dilute the soap in the wash before adding clothes. We don’t do that, but just a heads up that it might help. It does not keep your whites ultra white, but honestly, I do not care one bit. I don’t wear white clothes often anyway. Everything comes out fresh which is all that matters to us.

We have been adding white vinegar in lieu of fabric softener (guess it is ok for the machine? Maybe double check, to be sure, but we have been doing it.) and toss our clothes in the dryer with handmade wool dryer balls we purchased locally a couple of years ago. No more irritating, plastic based dryer sheets. The environmental and financial savings is so worth it.