Private garden tours are sometimes arranged during Farmers' Market. They occur evenings or on the weekend. Garden Zen During cut flower processing, all the leaves are stripped off the stems except the top few. The flowers are immediately plunged into the water after uprooting or cutting, the solution having been heated by the sun so it is very warm to touch. By now, a slice of watermelon is in order if the day's particularly warm.
Iced tea sits alongside the buckets of flowers in the now muddy bottom of the wheelbarrow.
Everything gets dirty. I sweat and swat at the sweat-bees that sting mercilessly as the sun beats down on the fields. Care must be taken not to disturb the many bumble and honey bees flitting from flower to flower, doing the important work of pollinating each flower that will turn into VDZ seed. It's quiet in the fields, except for the country music from a radio as our son washes his Chevy truck back behind the barn. Garden Zen Finally, the wheelbarrow is pushed to a shady spot out by the truck that will haul the flowers and baskets of seeds to the market the next morning.