Cathy,
You got it....doing just that. :0) Phyl

Cathy,

You and your "Simply Country" event will certainly be in our prayers. You're doing a very great thing, and I know it will be a success. All it will take is one pop-up rain shower in your area! God bless both of you--Cathy

You got it !M

Yo,

The Buckster is on it....

Prasie God,

Tim

I'd be glad to say a prayer for success and RAIN!

No problem, and I'm you'll do just fine. I wish you the best of luck, and good attendance for your very thoughtful event.
Cheryl

Well -- newspapers ad have hit and the response is unbelieveable already. We will have a bumper crop of people if not flowers. We are now hauling water in from town --- that's how bad it is.

If I water and fertilize everyday -- we might get there.

Thanks so much for the prayers --- we really do need them.

Cathy, you and Scot and the girls are still coming, right? Can you help me convince customers that lambs quarters are really filler flowrs?!? That's growing great!!!

Cathy

Cathy,

Unfortunately, Scot will be working that day--A lot of guys have vacations, etc this time of year, so a day off from the fire department is kind of scarce at the moment. The kids and I will be there for sure.
We're just a couple of weeks shy of a whole year since he was diagnosed with colon cancer. It's amazing to think all of that--surgery, chemo, etc. is all behind us now. I think your fundraiser is fantastic, and hope to do something like it someday, as I get my flower farm off the ground, so to speak.
If you can talk people into the lambs quarters as filler idea, I can bring a few bucketfulls with me when we come over! How about the Queen Anne's Lace in the ditches--that one might actually work...

Hey, they changed the forecast last night--a possibility of rain now on Tuesday and Thursday--keep those prayers coming, folks!

Cathy

Betch God sends lots of flowers for the event. I have never been failed by the Great Gardener when I needed flowers for someone.

If we lived closer, we would give you buckets and buckets of flowers to have available for such a worthy cause. Instead we will keep your event in our nightly prayers. One can irrigate; but, there is nothing better than a good summer rain for flowers. Good luck with Simply Country. Did I read about this somewhere? Magazine? Newspaper? GFM? Web? I'm pretty sure I did.

Cathy & "spivey" == Queen Anne's lace can be delicately colored using food coloring (fairly strong) in the water for at least 24 hours. It won't look as "roadside" that way, although I really like the white anyhow. Looks great mixed in with other stuff.

All the best and many blessings.

Cathy,

I sent you some rain today. Hope that's all you got and not the wind, hopefully it blew itself out up here.

Steve

Steve --- Again all the rain went north of us!
Cathy and I were looking for it!

I got a call last night from a first year flower farmer near Peoria --- she is SO discouraged. DH just laughed as I was trying to encourage her.... because I'm so discouraged!!

Someone told me to do a rain dance. But I'm not sure of the steps. Is it ..."You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out."?

Thanks for trying, Steve!!

Cathy

Here's an update. Still no rain -- my yard crunches when you walk across it -- and I am tired of hauling water from town -- last week we hauled 1600 gal and I only kept things alive. However -- the weeds are flourishing. It is tough to keep things weeded when you are dragging hoses around everyday for 4 to 5 hours!

The benefit was yesterday -- it was 98 degrees with a heat index of 105. Everything and everyone was melting ...particularly, me!

But we were able to raise $875 -- short of my goal but a small increase from last year. And we will be doing it again next year -- I made the local evening news -- and it seemed like people were having a good time --even if I didn't have the flowers I wanted to have or have had in the past.

Cathy (spivey13) and CathyG both came -- plus Ironbelly from the Landscape Forum --- it was so nice to have their support. And everyone brought me plants or flowers!!!! Pieces of their hearts from true gardeneres!!

So thank you everyone for your prayers and support. Cliff and I really appreciate it. But I could still use some rain!

Cathy

Misty here this morning. Wish I could send it to you as you need it far more then we do, but I am hapy with it just the same. Glad your event went off well...you did great considering the weather! WHo knows, next year it could be too much rain and not enough sun! But see, the flowers came anyhow!

Had to check today to see how things worked out. Nice to see that prayers were answered for the turn out and funds. The hard-earned flowers will be even more appreciated.

We're getting to the crunchy stage, too, so sympathize.

If any of you are ever near Donahue, Iowa, drop in at Miss Effie's. Cathy and Cliff are friendly and gracious, and they will make you feel welcome. Cathy has done a wonderful job with the gardens, and the view from their farm is beautiful.

Cathy, thank you again for the nice time, we enjoyed the day. And open your windows and smell the rain, because it looks like you have a good batch of it heading your way. If it comes, please send it on to Illinois.

cathyg

Cathy --

Thank you for the kind words. You and Joe are welcome anytime. Come back after corn-picking and we'll throw steaks on the grill and cider on the woodstove........ Oh yea, the late freeze froze my apple crop off!!!

Got a brief sprinkle late last night -- I could smell the rain a little after 10 and went outside and stood in the rain in my nightshirt! Can't do that in town!!! But it didn't even measure in the rain gauge!

Maybe today --- I'll send you all I can!

Cathy (aka Miss Effie)

I second Cathyg's message--despite the heat, it was a very nice day, and I can honestly say that even with three kids in tow--thank goodness for the pony ride and the goats, although I've had to hear about the goat farting story about 28 times so far--the almost 7 year old thought that was much cooler than flowers!
Miss Effie's is right up there with "Field of Dreams"--my second trip there, and so much fun to see the flowers blooming.
As for the rain--we got a little bit of the rain you could smell last night, Cathy. I think we might (probably pushing it) have .2" of rain, but it's going to rain more today, I just know it--I'll keep sending it along I-80 to you...
All I can say is it's been an interesting summer to start a flower farm! Hopefully, the next couple of years will be a bit easier...but I doubt it!
Good job, Cathy--it was a great fundraiser, and a lot of people walking around with smiles on their faces. So good to meet Cliff, too!

Cathy (spivey)

One other thing...females in Iowa do have names other than Cathy...you just wouldn't know it from these posts...