I have scratches all over my torso because a skunk discovered that our hens have been laying eggs in various places around the farm.

It’s the skunk’s fault, although not directly. Wasn’t skunk claws that raked my shoulders and chest and back. But I still blame it. Because while it was raiding nests and eating eggs, our cat saw fit to intervene, and got himself sprayed. (Again.) He must have learned a little something from previous encounters, because it was only a glancing blast of stank that got him this time – not enough to leave him gagging and blind, but enough that he was banned from the bed and forced to bathe. He won’t do this on his own, so I had to be his bathing assistant. And that, of course, is why I’m sporting scratches all over.

It’s been a good spring, skunk aside.

The field is looking tidy and well-mulched. The myriad weeds that co-exist with our crops aren’t towering rudely yet. They are a bit slowed by the standard lack of rainfall that we get here – we had barely one inch total in May, and so far June has graced us with less than two inches (they say we should get an inch a week to keep up with the Joneses). It’s the usual story here – our neighborhood is seemingly hydrophobic, magically shedding rain clouds. (We also miss the hail, which is a pleasant silver lining.) Fortunately, growing in sandy soil has trained us well in moisture maintenance over the years, and so adapting to drought conditions is merely a slight extension of our usual procedures. Mulch, mulch, more mulch, compost, and some drip irrigation down each row. A lot of rain might even be a problem, if we had such a thing – sandy soil is prone to nutrients washing down beyond the root zone.

Last week, and this week, we spent many hours with The Boys performing the traditional task of farm kids everywhere: patrolling the potato row and trying to stem the always rising tide of potato beetles, larvae, and eggs. Next week, we will do some more. This continues until the potato plants die back. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

Otis and Jasper helped Marcia and Deb take photos during the harvest today.

WHAT’S IN BOX #1

Garlic Scapes – if you don;t get scapes, are you really even in a CSA?
Lettuce Mix
Cilantro – our best year ever for this! If that heat wave wouldn’t have broken, they would have bolted on us, but the cool temps and rain held them for the harvest today.
Sugar Snap Peas
Salad Turnips
Radishes – the only ones we’ll get his year, because timing is tricky and we are imperfect humans. SO enjoy them if you do, and rejoice of you don’t ’cause this is it for the year.
Spring Onions
Bok Choi
Microgreen Mix (Red Cabbage, Broccoli, Sunflowers, Amaranth, Kale, Radish)

Well, it was a mildly chaotic first day but I think we all made it. Hope the veggies are delicious!

Well, the pea plants finally conceded to entropy via powdery mildew, as they do when they’re over it. They had a good run!

There were many beautiful moments to appreciate this week.

The smoke brought a spell of subtle but notable bad vibes that felt great to have behind us; when the air cleared it was easy to be grateful for air that doesn’t hurt. There are almost no mosquitoes, The house wrens sound like robots, the deer fence keeps working, the day to day farm life is less dramatic these days. Kristin did find some ominously-sized bear scat in the back meadow, though.

Inside Box Eight

• Beans
• Cabbage
• Eggplant – If you got a big one, it’s name is “Thanos.” Great marinated & grilled. Or breaded and fried. Or baked.
• Shallots – whatever you don’t want to use now, can be simply left on your counter; the tops will dry. (Don’t put them in the fridge, as the tops can get sorta slimy.)
• Broccoli Microgreens
  “These offer a concentrated dose of nutrients, including vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as minerals like calcium, iron, and magnesium. They are particularly rich in sulforaphane, a compound with potential cancer-fighting and anti-inflammatory properties. These tiny greens can also support heart health, improve digestion, and boost the immune system” So, yeah.
• Basil – complements tomatoes, if you don’t turn into a pesto instead. Don’t put it in a cold fridge or it will blacken.
• Cucumbers – not too many, but we sure were tempted; we have too many and this may be a cry for help right here
• Zucchini
• Tomatoes & Cherry Tomatoes

Enjoy the air, the beauty, and your food!

Another summer week flew by with astonishing, bewildering speed. Heat. Humidity. Smoke. Market. Rain. Weeds. Crops. Kids.

And sky.

inside Box Eight

• Tomatoes – just a couple for now. They’re not quite ripe yet; let them finish their thang on your countertop for a few days … experiment, become a scientist; more are coming …
• Cherry tomatoes
• Potatoes 
• Cucumbers –Let us know if you want to make pickles; we will hook you up!
• Zucchini 
• Curly Blue Kale
• Peas – winding down (??!)
• Beans – winding up
• Red Onion
  That summer salad that is just lightly dressed cucumber, tomato, and red onion tossed together ? Mmmm.
• Radish microgreens 
• Garlic
  • Recommendation: Toum – a garlicky mayonnaise like condiment
    I had success wit t-his method and recipe. Recipes commonly call for removing the green garlic germ but I did not do this and think that since the garlic is so fresh, this step could be skipped. 
    
    Immersion blender method:
    
    44g garlic cold garlic
    4g Diamond Crystal kosher salt
    Cold 30g fresh juice
    12g ice
    Cold 210g neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola (I put mine in the fridge)
    
    Pulse garlic, salt, lemon juice and ice to make a slurry then add oil in a steady thin stream. I move the blender head up and down as I’m blending.

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

This week, I almost got some lawnmower weeding done.

And then, I almost did again. And another time. And at least once more, for good measure, I again very nearly got onto the riding lawnmower and pulverized an old early pea plant row and its attendant host of looming and beastly weeds, bursting with seedy potential.

I’ve almost mowed it all week. But we aren’t doing the arid thing this year. It rains. It doesn’t add up to a whole lot, but it keeps happening, often without any warning at all – tomorrow’s forecast is always promising Low to Zero Percent Rain Chances and beaming sun pictographs. 

But then it rains enough to thwart the mower and thwater the thweeds and and so the mower seat remains turned upright to drain dry, and the row of beautiful vigorous weeds is still standing proud.

Also:

The rain is a blessing to all life, including the weeds, and the slugs (see: the surface of one of your kohlrabis). It’s always something. The trees and the crops are into it too, especially the little youngsters with their tenuous roots.

The lightning bugs signal from the shadows in the woods all around us this week, to the rhythms of the whipoorwills and the wails of the coyotes.

inside Box 4