This photo is the first tea we picked and processed this new year. This was taken on April 8 when the solar eclipse was at about 75%. It is in my dry pen, drying out in the sun, a drying technique I learned from the Chinese. The dry pen keeps the wind from blowing on [...]
As every year, we celebrate the springs first flush with a retirement of the scarecrow out in the tea field. He has done a great job of keeping the crows out of the tea field but now spring has sprung! First we had guests file by to bid hale and farewell to an old friend [...]
It is still cold here in Fairhope and the spring has not sprung and the tea buds are not swelling...yet. That will happen in a matter of days and the bleak, thin tea bushes will all turn bright green. This photo is a tea branch I keep on my patio to show tea plant customers [...]
The Fairhope Tea Plantation was honored yesterday with the tossing of a half pound of our tea off Griffin's Wharf into the Boston Harbor in celebration of the December 16,1773 Boston Tea Party. The photo above shows guest in street clothes but they also reenacted the event with actors dressed as fake Indians. They had [...]
This is the time of year where we prune our tea bushes in anticipation of the spring flush. The flush, or first spring growth comes early to tea. It buds out before most all the other bushes and plants which are still winter dormant. I often wish it would bud out later when we [...]
I had a five year old tourist said he was relieved that my scarecrow was not too scary. He was likely thinking how circus clowns are depicted today. This years scarecrow has a lighthearted, almost comical look. I leave the scarecrows up until the first flush of tea then we celebrate the spring with a [...]
Our tea farm was featured in the Foley Local magazine with me on the cover. The article was really good and most complementary but it mostly told the story of how I sell seedlings to other farmers who want to get in the tea business. It did not tell the story of how I make [...]
This photo is a picture of a new invasive plant that is quite new to our area. It is called Tropical Bushmint (Cantinoa mutabilis). This plant now covers our fields, roadsides, all around my barn and all over the tea bushes. It is a strong growing perennial and spreads like invasive wildfire on steroids. It [...]
This is how much tea I managed to pick yesterday in the 95 degree heat. Doesn't look like much but it will be a few pounds of green tea. I work carefully in the fields, working in slow motion and drink water constantly. My tea growth has been very slow this year and I am [...]
We have had this web site for years and I can not believe how much traffic we have had - thousands of readers. I have included all sorts of tea growing advice and tea making information, but the most response ever has been to these few old pictures I have posted. I appreciate the jokes, [...]
