Battling the Heat, Blooming Bouquets & a Broken Tractor

A Week of Extreme Weather

It was HOT! HOT! HOT! this week.

Like much of the country, we were under a heat advisory with temperatures in the mid-90s and heat indexes over 100°. This kind of weather is not typical for us in June here in Western PA—and wow, it was intense.

Beating the Heat, Farm-Style

So, how do we keep the farm running when it’s that hot? We start early and end early. My team and I even worked on Saturday to bank a few hours so we could wrap up early on the hottest days. Most mornings, by 8 a.m., we were already sweating. There were lots of water breaks and time spent cooling off in between tasks.

Even with the extreme heat, our team powered through—we planted thousands of plants and harvested thousands of flowers for our bouquets.

The Sunshine Boost We Needed

The flowers truly loved all the sunshine. Last week, we had to skip our grocery store deliveries because the blooms just weren’t there. The lack of sunlight had caught up with us, and it was disappointing. But that’s farming—Mother Nature holds all the cards. We do our best to work with her, not against her, but sometimes things don’t go according to plan.

This week, though? The sun came through.

As I walked through the fields today, I saw so many flowers just about ready to be picked for next week’s bouquets. And thanks to the good rain we got before the heat wave, our plants didn’t struggle—in fact, I swear I could hear them growing.

Early Mornings in the High Tunnels

We deeply watered the high tunnels last Friday to prepare for the heat, and made sure to get in there early each day before it became unbearable. By 10 a.m., we were out. It was just too hot to be in a greenhouse after that.

Summer Fun in Between Farm Work

To beat the heat, my girls and I cooled off by going swimming in the afternoons. The water was warm and refreshing—a little old-fashioned summer fun. We needed that.

Grocery Deliveries Are Back

We were also back to delivering bouquets to our regular grocery store customers this week—thank you, sunshine! The bachelor buttons and forget-me-nots came on strong and looked beautiful in the bouquets.

When the Tractor Breaks Down...

Of course, no week is without its hiccups. This time? Our tractor broke down. Not good.

We still have 20,000 seedlings to plant for fall bouquets and beds to till—so the timing couldn’t have been worse. When we called the dealer we bought the tractor from (nine years ago!), they told us they were four weeks out from even looking at it.

That’s not exactly helpful when you’re on a tight planting schedule.

Rolling Up Our Sleeves (and Watching YouTube)

So, like many small farms, we rolled up our sleeves and turned to YouTube. We’re trying to get it out of limp mode and back in action ourselves. I’m still holding out hope that by the time I write next week’s update, I’ll be reporting that the tractor is up and running—and the seedlings are all in the ground.

Thanks, as always, for following along on our flower-filled farming journey. We love sharing the behind-the-scenes with you, and we’re so glad you’re here.

Have a great weekend!