The light at the end of the tunnel

This week has been a bit darker than most. Consider the course of events:

Halloween

Folks dressed as witches, ghosts and goblins (or a sports fan if you were me - hey, I thought it was scary), haunted houses on every block, punch served out of skulls. A dark holiday indeed.

Dia de los Muertos

Skeletons on parade, celebrations in graveyards, the living emulating the dead. Although it makes light of death (and makes very good use of flores), I would still call this a dark celebration.

And then, the light at the end of the tunnel....


This "tunnel" is the  pathway through on of our coolers!

Daylight Savings Time! 

Some groan at the thought of darkness coming earlier in the night, but I bask in the impending sensation of waking up to a little sunlight! Hardly the morning person, I've been impatiently awaiting this moment since we had our first near-frost at the farm.

If you're like me and love that first whole week's feeling of "sleeping in," then I'd say you're already aware of the perks of Daylight Savings Falling Back. But who, if anyone, appreciates it at the farm?

As it turns out, there are a few people at Sun Valley who love DST almost as I do. For one, our Greenhouse picking crews, who start the day early, enjoy that extra hour of natural sunlight in the Greenhouse. Picking flowers in the Greenhouse or anywhere is a lot easier when you can see them!

Speaking of the Greenhouses, there's one major perk that I'm reminded of when we Fall Back on our clocks: Once that NorCal winter weather starts coming in - ahem, rain - our team has rows upon rows of balmy Greenhouses to stroll through in order to escape the torrential downpours. We had a few readers over the past couple weeks say they'd love a job that allows them to walk through our beautiful farms (inspired in part by these posts: click here and here). Well, when it's raining, you'd certainly love our Greenhouses!

To illustrate what I'm talking about, these are a few images I took today whilst walking the Arcata farm...
 

Since it was sunny and didn't quite capture the "torrential downpours"
that I wrote about, I thought I'd show you a picture of one of the many
puddles that remind us of yesterday's rain. Look closely, you can see
a reflection of the Greenhouses in the puddle!



A row of Greenhouses



Seedlings that will become the rich burgundy Sumatra Lilies



Orientals nearly ready for harvest



Tulip pickers



A full load of Tulips ready to be graded



Freshly steamed soil. Because we reuse our soil, we steam it in
order to remove unwanted pathogens and weed seeds. 

Aside from the picking team, there are a few others who get an extra pep in their step from the time change: 1) The Farmers. Although they have to be somewhat hardened to the elements, I'm sure our farmers enjoy the extra warmth from the sun first thing in the morning. 2) The Sales Team. Your helpful Sales reps are here dark and early each day so they can help you out, whether you're down the street or on the other side of the country. After Sunday, that'll be bright and early! 3) Anyone else with an early morning start. You get the idea.

I could go on more about why Daylight Savings Time is great, but I have a feeling I'd start talking in circles. Enjoy that extra hour of sleep on Monday!

If you've got anything to add to my one-sided conversation on DST, please share it in the comments below!