It has been an unbelievably busy summer and fall promises to be busy too—between this little flower trial garden, to the new job I started at the hospital, then dealing with my family in Puerto Rico as Hurricanes Irma and Maria battered the island.  I am so ready for a break.  But the trial garden never sleeps and it is getting ready for Fall planting.  But before I get ahead of myself, let me begin at the beginning. 

1. A Dream Come True—As you may recall from our previous posts, this summer I decided to move forward with my dream of growing flowers.  I am not interested in the floral design portion (at least not for now); I simply love growing them. And the ultimate goal is turn this into a small business.  I am not looking at creating a big farm a la Swan Island Dahlias or Floret Farm.  I want to keep it small scale, something I can handle with my full time job.  So this summer I started my dahlia trial garden and it was quite the little experiment.  I have been keeping notes on the lessons I learned because this rookie grower learned A LOT. 

I consider the experiment a success.  Enough that next season we will be growing dahlias out from my husband’s family farm.There is an area where the old cow pen and feed lot were that has been unused for almost 20 years.  There I am planning on growing about one acre of that property to expand the dahlias I want to grow. So I am pretty excited about that.

2. Beautiful Weather Causing Delays— In about a week, I am getting ready to dig up the dahlia tubers.  I thought I would have had to do it by now, but oddly enough our area of SE Minnesota has not had its first frost yet AND this week the temperatures is low in the 40s and high in the 70s.  So I have become one of those people obsessed with the weather now. This city has been reading the Farmer’s Almanac and checking out the weather every day.  What is happening to me?! J

3. Fall Planting—Planting is never done.  I started my fall planting, planting all 200 tulip bulbs.  I also planted anemone and I am super excited about those.  Like the dahlia trial garden, I planted them in garden beds to make it easier. I am hoping these will work and praying that the critters do not destroy/eat them.

4. Gear Up for Half Marathon—Now, once fall planting is done and tubers put away, I am switching gears and ramping up my half-marathon training.  Up until a few months ago I had a running blog and have neglected it bigly.  But back in July I felt that my running was sort of blah and I needed something to motivate me and give me a goal.  And so I decided to dust off my old running bucket list on went ahead and signed up for my first half marathon... in Norway.  Hubby and I talked it over, and he is totally supportive of the idea so we will make it the most epic racecation we can.

My friends think it is crazy for me to do my first half marathon overseas.  What if I get a DNF? All those kinds of questions that make me want to say "Really guys?  How about some support?". Thankfully it is not for another year (I gave myself plenty of time) plus I hired a running coach for training, which I am so excited for since I sometimes need someone to push me.  So, yeap... we are doing this! And the training has started. 

5. How To Deal with Hurricane Aftermaths Productively-- Then Hurricanes Irma and Maria happened and my heart broke.  If you have seen the news, the beautiful island I was born and grew up in is destroyed for the most part.  For four weeks now, my emotions have been on the surface.  I am an emotional rollercoaster.  Thankfully running has helped.  My family is ok and I am blessed that my husband cares so much about them because he literally bought and shipped everything they need including a generator. And my family is so grateful that they cannot wait to see him.  But that is the kind of man he is—generous and with a big heart.

Weekend Green, Garden Like Link-Up, Floral Friday Fotos, In a Vase on Monday, Garden Blogger's Bloom Day (15th of the Month), Home Sweet Home, Home and Garden ThursdayHomestead Blog Hop, Simple Saturdays, The Homemaking Party, Home MattersGardens Galore, Home Sweet Home, Gardens Galore, Floral Bliss, Home and Garden Thursday

Week In Review / Sunday Fitness & Food / Fit Fashionable Friday / Friday Five 2.0 / Tuesdays on the Run/ Wild Workout Wednesday /Meatless Monday