… the hen of the woods and her seven chicks came home. They’re thriving. We’ll have to name her.

I stalked two other hens that I noticed also had taken to sleeping elsewhere, and finally found their egg hoards – time ticking chicking baby bombs. Which aren’t a bad thing, in moderation. But when there are too many of them at once it can be a hassle (because Winter).

So we match wits and make deals with fate and fowl. We’ve maintained the same flock since our first chickens on the farm in 2014, and now I see individual birds less, as we witness the different lineages morph and move through time and new blood.

So, only one of the two new nests have been removed. We’ll see about the other. WWBWB.

In other news, there still hasn’t been rain. We irrigate daily but there’s only so much that drip irrigation can do under these extreme conditions. We are said to have an inch coming Wednesday night. I will be watching the radar like some watch a playoff game.

Yields are hurting but the plants do survive, and produce. We tend to overplant in order to compensate for the inevitable issues that arise, fortunately.

And that’s why we were able to have this stuff for you inside of:

Box Six

• a Green-Colored Cabbage – if you don’t love cabbage you are wrong and should really rethink most everything. Seriously
• Sugar Snap Peas – Survivors of the dry roasting
• Zucchini – we tried this recipe and liked it enough to recommend it here. And it uses lots of zucchini. We’ve also been eating zucchini soup, zucchini pancakes, zucchini zucchini. It’s really versatile and it’s one of the only things in the field that seems to be just fine with the continuing drought.

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• Summer Squash – t!he two-toned ones are called Zephyr. What an odd word. But they’re tasty. Pretty much treat the same as zucchini.
• Sunflower Shoots – we battle the mouse kingdom to nurture trays of organically-grown sunflower seeds into these. Tasty greens with fat and protein? Yes.
• Microgreens (Amaranth, Kale, Red Mustard, or Italian Basil)

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• Shallots – eat yer alliums! These are young, they’ll keep bulbing up throughout the season. The greens can be eaten as well.
• Cucumbers
• Mint – you deserve a mojito tonight. (And perhaps iced tea, cucumber mint salad, chutney ….)

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