We’re entering that time of the season when weeding, mulching, and planting – the primary activities of early season – give way almost entirely to harvesting, harvesting, and harvesting.

This week our trio of summer WWOOFers, Lukas, Brittany, and Alissa, hit the road for destinations westward, scattering across the Dakota plains toward Montana and Oregon; now we’re alone on the Farm until September. Wild foraging has kicked into gear again – we finally have time to venture into the woods to search, and nature’s bounty is providing again.

It seems like generally a poor season, as the late June frost nipped most of the wild plums, grapes, and cherries in the buds. But we’re getting a decent flush of blackberries in our woods, and our lobster mushroom patches are lobstering again.

We also found time to visit family and friends, bring Otis to a parade and a soap box derby, and start plotting what kind of route we’ll want to take throughout the Southland this winter … which is definitely coming. Hopefully not until we’ve had a chance to enjoy a nice long autumn though! And even that, not yet.

In the Box

• Buttercrunch Head Lettuce
• Sweet Peppers – bells and … non-bells that go by the name Sirenbyi.
• Sweet Corn – yeah, sadly in spite of our rescue efforts, the corn didn’t recover from being flattened in the windstorm very well, so there is just an ear in each box again. It happened at just the wrong time for the plants, which were tasseling at the time; many of the stalks, while still alive, simply didn’t produce any cobs at all. Que sera, sera!
• Carrots

• Tomatoes – we planted half again as many tomatoes in our high tunnel this year, and the warmer temps this creates has really helped us get a good crop of tomatoes, during a year when many producers are swearing at field tomatoes that are simply refusing to ripen. Yay!

• Shallots
• Eggplant
• Zucchini

• Cucumbers – you might have gotten one of the special light green, wrinkly variety – enjoy a unique and tender-skinned slicer!
• Bag o’ Broccoli
• Okra? – two lucky shareholders got a bag of Okra this week! Don’t be scared, fellow Northerners – try one of these recipes perhaps? You’ll want to use your okra in the next few days for best results.

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