What happened this week?! I don’t even know. Let’s look for photographic clues.

Looks like mostly I tried to get a picture of a dragonfly on an anise hyssop flower and failed to ever get it in focus. Hmm, what else.

Today I found the current Secret Nest that several chickens have been secreting their eggs in – more than a dozen piled up. If someone is sitting on them tonight I’ll let it ride, otherwise we will claim our eggs for consumption. 

It rained more. Ranger chased a lizard, stalked a rabbit, and ate a squirrel. We foraged for berries but came up pretty scant, then returned to discover that our own raspberry bushes were abundantly producing. The chokecherries are just starting to ripen. Rog made coffee ice cream  WWOOFer Grayson and Rog helped battle the quackgrass rhizomes on the western field edge (the one that killed our mower), and we put beets, daikons, and turnips in there.

Oh! And the mega-weed row, between the vining squash and cucumbers, was vanquished without tractor or mower: Kristin led the WWOOFers in stomping down the beastly ones, inward, prior to steamrolling and covering the whole mess up with a roll of landscape fabric – choking then off from the sun, so they can return to the soil and the vining crops will have a lovely open area upon which to sprawl.

We want to start some fall lettuce but it’s so hot that they don’t wanna germinate.The tomatoes are just starting to finally ripen .. the frequent cloud cover has slowed their roll considerably. The peas somehow keep staggering on like zombies.Unstoppable, delicious zombies.

Today’s harvest went quickly and easily – The GrandSehrs hung with The Boys, while we knocked out the harvest and prepping and packing with Marcia, Marty, WWOOFer Rog & WWOOFer Grayson  – plus CSA Member & Southside Dropsite Host Extraordinaire Walter, who camped by the River last night, where he discovered a beautiful chicken of the woods mushroom to share with us all!

A lovely day to end a lovely week at the Farm, in the Woods, beneath the Sky and among y’all on the Earth.

Enjoy your veggies!

inside Box Seven

• Chicken of the Woods Mushroom – tear into strips, sautee in butter for ten minutes. Don’t dry em out, so don’t be shy with the butter. Or add water if needed.
• a tomato, or some cherry tomatoes – the very first to ripen!
• a Cabbage – is it time for cole slaw? There will likely be more later. But not as many as last year.
• Sunflower MicroGreens – a triple serving, with the shells carefully removed by yours truly
• Garlic
• Onions
• Zucchinis
• Cucumbers – if you want to make pickles, use the short ones. Fridge pickles are easy and delicious. Or just snack on them.
• Eggplant
• a Pound of Peas – from the Tunnel of Eternal Peas seen above