30/10/2026
As the days grow shorter, we see the end of our growing season more clearly in each dusky sunset.
The dahlias sing their swan song and the chrysanthemums rally, taking up the baton for the final floral furlong. We look back and reflect on the gifts and challenges this season has brought.
The searing heat of the Summer pushed us so far out of our comfort zone that we had to find a new one; one for climate change. No longer a far-off, whispered threat but a very real and tangible part of life. This summer’s climate brought insects we had not encountered before, watering challenges to a whole new level and the most horrendous crash course in powdery mildew on what felt like the surface of the sun.
This season also introduced us to Save The Dogs UK and strengthened our resolve in never using agricultural chemicals. Whilst we have always grown without them, this year’s growing conditions were the most challenging I have encountered, and the mildew had me reading up on fungicide. I discovered that agricultural chemicals (including glyphosate-based weedkillers, an ingredient in a well known weedkiller) are currently still tested on beagles - yes DOGS and other animals in the UK. This learning has permanently strengthened our resolve to grow as organically as possible and without agricultural chemicals. Please look into this for yourself, it is shocking and inhumane and Save The Dogs UK are campaigning to end the use of dogs in toxicology testing and animal testing in general. Please sign the government petition calling for a public inquiry, the link is in my bio.
A great positive to come from this season was meeting Ben and Seana Toast who love dogs as much as we do, their dog was guest of honour at their wedding! We absolutely loved creating their wedding florals and continue to sell our flowers from our mini farmstand at Toast every weekend. Some bunches from the first two clips above are available there from this evening.
So as we approach Halloween; the turning point of the light into the darker half of the year, I will look back on the chinks of light that have shone though the flowers, knowing that it always will. Good will always prevail 🤍
