I'm still here!

It's been a month already!? Oops! 

Well basically life has been quite busy in more ways than one. Although there has been a lot of rain with humid days in between, business is still happening. 

The boys are off on vacation this weekend so for market Matt came along to assist. If anyone was around Western MA yesterday, then you know that the skies opened up and it poured in the early afternoon.... market time. After setting up the tent and produce we hid in the back of the truck to stay dry and wait for a random passerby to become a customer. 

Meanwhile the market manager, Belle Rita, had made a DELICIOUS squash and curry soup. (The recipe of which I have somewhere.) Matt and I drank soup and waited for the rain to let up. And it did finally. For a couple hours we had a slow-steady stream of customers and sold mostly tomatoes. 

We were beginning to back up when the weather stilled and the sky got quite dark for 2:30pm. Obviously a serious downpour was imminent and boy did we hustle to get out in time. Though we moved fast we still got caught and got drenched. It was hilarious nonetheless. 

Today's Weather: Clear skies. Perfect icecream day! 

Favorite Farm Photo... Ever!

Tower Square Market 6/12 and 6/19

I know, I know

After hearing that people have begun to check my blog for updates (Pat), I'm back with another entry about my mornings, afternoons, evenings, and nights spent at the Farm. They say I should just move in upstairs. I'm not so sure they're joking...

So if you live in the area... or in New England... you must have noticed that we're getting all rain for the whole summer in this week. Shipment 1/16, hold upright. Plenty of rain makes me happy because I love cloudy weather, raindrops, storms, and the like. However, it makes business QUITE slow. The good that comes from little to no customers is plenty of time to make sure that everything... every possible thing is done. Like cleaning the hangers. And the annuals. And straightening and watering the greenhouses. And throwing out dead things. And cleaning the inside. And organizing each pen and piece of paper. You get the idea.

Since all these things got done yesterday, today was a "look like you're doing something" day. Translated it means "Chelsea gets to read her new book in between the sporadic spurts of customers." I got about 120 pages in 1984 by George Orwell. I can't believe I've never read it before - it has the power to change lives and I'm sure that it has. But I digress.

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Friday markets have been a little slow the last two weeks. Whyfore, you ask? The weather. Office workers are afraid to come out in a potential sprinkle, rain, torrential downpour. I can't imagine why. /sarcasm
If it weren't for the success of our first week, I think that my bosses would be reconsidering their decision to actually participate in this market.

Somewhere I have a list of things to bring for this week. All I can remember is to bring herb pots and table cloths. I don't think we really need them (table cloths) but everybody else has them and I know we don't want to be left out.

Saturday market is winding down. This week will be the last weekend of the season that we'll show up. So if you're itching to visit us bright and early, then get your butt down to Avocado Street on Saturday.

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Because I still lack formatting skills, I shall follow this update with one solely of pictures. Love it?

Tomorrow's Weather: Cloudy and Rainy. High 69* Low 61* (My kind of day.)

Until Next Time,
Chelsea

P.S.: Happy Father's Day!

Teaser

One of my bosses. Hard at work at Springfield's Tower Square Market. Eventually I'll post more pictures of our first market there.

So sorry it's been so long!

Somewhere Beyond the Sea...

Today we started at Springfield's Tower Square Market. Apparently the boys have been wanting to do this market for a while and a spot finally opened up. This was our first day and not knowing what to expect, we brought produce, hangers, 4 1/2" geraniums, larger geraniums, etc. Um... we rocked.

It's only a three hour market, nonetheless we were happy with the turnout. Sold out of strawberries very quickly and went through a few boxes of hot house tomatoes. Both bosses and I worked our little area and chit-chatted with a variety of people. It was fun to hang out with them on what they felt qualified as a "day off."

Not to worry, I've got pictures that I plan to upload this weekend. My favorite is of one of my bosses sitting under a tree like a little kid (with his trademark Dunkin Donuts coffee).

My feelings today - glee, happiness, appreciation, and general gratitude. I was smiling the whole time. Between noon and 1:30pm there is music. Hopefully it will be the same guy each week (June-Sept). Today he sang some Elvis, Neil Diamond, and Bobby Darin. EVERYONE was singing under their breath and all I wanted to do was just dance around. I couldn't stop grinning. Oh! And, seeing as I was wearing our business shirt and my bosses are camera shy, I had my picture taken for the market's website. When I find it, I'll post a link.

And that's all.

Tomorrow's Weather: High of 78*, partly cloudy. Low of 47*. If you plan to come to Avocado St Farmer's Market, wear sunscreen! If you're fair skinned, like me, you will surely get burned as I did last week. Um... ouch! Please find me and say 'hello.'

Love and be loved, Readers.

-Chelsea

Saturday Market

Beautification

Okay, so I know I still need to work on the format... one thing at a time!

On this particular day I was cleaning petunia hangers. Not a terribly exciting task.. in fact it is often sticky. Literally. Have you ever plucked a petunia? I suggest that you do so in order to gain a tactile appreciation of this blog entry.

The first picture shows the plant as a whole. Pretty nice looking except for those dead flowers. The second picture shows what a dead-head looks like on a petunia: kinda droopy and expired-like. Once plucked from the stem (you can just remove the flower itself but then the plant is going to still take time to kill the part of the stem when it really wants to be growing another flower) I toss all of them, in addition to any dried out stems, or yellow leaves in to the bucket (see picture 3). And when I have gone through the entire plant it turns out looking good as new. Voila! Picture 4, a cleaned petunia hanger.

A helpful hint if you must also clean your petunia hanging basket - shake it! I twirl the basket around a few times and shake off any of the dead heads that the plant has already removed for me. That way I am able to concentrate on taking off the heads that are still connected. Easy peasy!

Speaking of peas... the other night we had a chance of frost (I know, right!? What on Earth? But that is New England for you.). My boss decided to take a risk and not cover up the plants that would be susceptible to death if exposed to frost. Perennials are usually fine but veggie plants, double impatiens, etc are not so hardy. At home I decided not to risk it all the way. I covered my brother's pumpkin plants with pillow cases and my dad's peas with newspaper. Pea plants are hard to come by so my father started them from seed and I knew he'd be upset were they all to die.
Luckily, the frost passed us. Phew!

Seeing as 1) I am behind on posts and 2) not yet able to format my pictures properly, I will be adding another post right after this one! How exciting! Even more so, it will be all pictures so just put your brain on hold and look at some more pictures!

Today's weather: high of 72* and rainy - low of 48*. Tomorrow's forecast will be a cool high of 62* with some clouds and a low of 48*.

Have a great day!
-Chelsea