A Week at the Farm Market Day 6: Friday

by The Woodland Elf · Published October 5, 2015 · Updated February 19, 2019

Friday is probably the most intense day of the week during market season.

Because the next day’s market is so early, everything for it has to be done Friday because there’s no time before the market on Saturday. Friday is basically an all day cutting affair. It’s always nice whether the weather is good, because there’s no time for breaks that day. Can’t always plan on it, however, and sometimes I get poured on.

Thankfully I have my Grandfather’s trusty old rain poncho and that can take any amount of rain the skies can drop. Doesn’t do much to help the mud, however, and my boots are usually caked and 4 pounds heavier by the time I’m done picking. The yellow jackets are also a problem when it rains because they like to burrow under the top leaves of the sunflowers where I can’t see them as they try to stay dry and warm. I usually find myself carrying at least one buzzing pile when it’s raining.

One thing I don’t do is lightning storms. I sit those out even if it means I don’t get all the flowers picked that week. I think I was scarred for life the one year I kept picking and suddenly a bolt of lighting came out of nowhere followed by simultaneous clap of thunder right over me. Let’s just say it took a bit before I got my heart rate to return to normal and ever since then I’ve been very wary about standing out in the middle of an open flower field when I hear thunder rumbling on the horizon. If it comes from the north it’s easier, as I can watch the dark clouds and sheets of rain make their way across the lake and over the fields toward me. I can see exactly how close it is then and know exactly when it’s time to leave.

If by contrast it’s a sunny, sweltering autumn day in the sunflower patch, the problem to watch for is white faced hornets. I’m pretty sure they make my list of top 5 meanest insects. They like to suck on the sunflower sap from the previous days’ cuttings, and they really don’t like human beings to come within 30 feet of them. More than once I’ve had to take off running being chased by the hornets like in one of those old cartoons. Fortunately they quickly get board of the chase and return to their sap sucking and I return to my flower cutting.

Once the flowers are cut and in the house, the long Friday night begins. I often only end up with out about 3 hours of sleep on Friday night because I’m up until 3am stripping flowers and making bouquets for the next day during high flower season. If it’s during a lull in the flowers, I sometimes make it to bed by midnight. It’s always a pleasure when that happens. On the other end of the spectrum, I once had so many flowers that I never slept the entire night. I kept going until 6:00am, then packed the car and went to market. Fortunately I don’t have to do completely sleepless nights very often.

Since the Saturday market is early in the morning, I don’t have to worry about anything melting, so I load everything in the car Friday night around 9 o’ clock. Then continue stripping flowers and making bouquets. The later it gets, the more the movie helps keep me awake.

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