Yesterday Mr. Scarecrow suddenly and unexpectedly hit the ground. We usually have a funeral for the scarecrow every year to celebrate the spring flush but this year my wife pleaded on his behalf to leave him up a while longer. As soon as the next of kin has been notified and funeral arrangements have been made, we will post an obit in the Fairhope Courier.
The other photo is a shot of the sunset behind the tea rows. It was a quick snapshot the came out well. I am about to redesign our rack card, our only form of advertising, and will use this picture.
I am also going to start changing our name from Fairhope Tea Plantation to Fairhope Tea Farm. I have resisted because of the accusations that we were trying to hold onto “Old South” values, which is totally untrue. We have a summer camp only four miles away who regularly brought kids hear to learn about tea that now they will not visit because of our “suggestive” name. It doesn’t matter as kids are not very interested in tea culture – its an adult thing. I’m am not trying to please anyone but myself as “plantation” does sound pompous and we really are a simple tea farm. I will take my time changing my signs and labels. No one will even notice.
The spring flush was a month late this year. I usually start plucking tea mid-March but this year it was mid-April. We have several batches of our specialty yellow tea and now we have made our first green tea. It is very good! We are in a mild drought now and a dry spring will make a flowerily brew. We make green teas first and later will make alternate batches of black and more green. Its going to be a good year and I’m sure we will make our goal of 300 pounds. The tea will be out there to pick, I just get tired of picking it.
I have put a button on this site to buy my book. It has been out now for a year and I have made enough money selling them to pay for the publishing cost. Folks from all over have bought my book and have been very complementary.
We still do tea tours at 1:00 most every day. People have been disappointed that I sold out of green tea four months ago. It will be back on our gift shop (tray) soon. Tours are $20 (cash) per person for a cup of tea, a discussion on how it is grown and made and a golf cart ride through the fields. A five minute drive up tour is free. We do those every day if I see them drive up. If I’m down at the barn or out in the garden, they often just drive off. Call and let us know you are coming and you will be delighted!
Donnie