Flowers Today

I picked some flowers for the restaurants today as I do most Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as my foliage. The photo below shows some of them after I put them on the work bench at the farm for the ladies to pack.

Abutilons Fuscias Nasturtiums
 

I also picked elderberry flowers from a bush in a creek bed on the south side of Emerald which are not in the photo. At least it's light work and and interesting. Often I also pick rocket and borage flowers, and calendulas, but Meredith had enough at the farm to do these herself today. It always a bit of a struggle having what they want in the quantity the wholesaler wants. They've been strong on fennel flowers for a few months but they are finished now.  Most things are seasonal. Coriander and dill are finishing. Hearstease, pansies are hard to have when they want them. Often when things are flush there's no demand, I suppose because chefs access gardens themselves or there's plenty at market cheap. 

In truth I'm just glad we have our customers both wholesale florists and herb/restaurant people and that by good fortune as much as good planning, we have enough produce to  provide our income. One things for sure, industrious we are, and always trying to keep things rolling.

Tomorrow is forecast fine and warm and I'll have a look at the last couple of beehives that I look after, with a view to readying them for winter. I have a plan to put the bees in new hardened foodgrade polystyrene hive material next spring (imported from Finland), just because I have never heard of this or tried such before, and to get a couple of good queens of quiet stock, perhaps my last hurrah in beekeeping as I'm aiming to make life as simple as I can from here on and reduce my activity. The bees are not mine really, I have given them away, but I'm still helping as the new owners learn. It's a case  of necessity really, as well as desire, to slow down and have less work to do. The clock keeps ticking.