What an incredible mix of sun and rain this week.  We finished the harvest on time on Thursday, despite a downpour that wouldn’t let up.  It was a testament to our awesome crew is and how far they’ve come in the past few months.  They all kept diving back out into the rain without complaint, even when it meant essentially swimming through mud to dig for potatoes!  We have a great crew.  We also had a slew of extra helpers on Wednesday (thanks to Cheryl at Terra Optima farm, who sent her crew our way for the day).  So we feel a little more caught up on weeds than we did at the start of the week, which is a relief (albeit a temporary one!).

Our Dexter heifer, Cookie, is back at the farm after visiting with the neighbor’s bull for the last couple of months.  Our cow menagerie now includes Boston, Cookie, Fluffy, DB (stands for Dutch Belted—-what ShinyPretty goes by these days), Elton (another visiting bull), and the nameless little bull calf (Fluffy Two?).  It’s feeling a little busy around here!  Especially after Cookie figured out how to open the gate to the cow yard.  After a couple of exciting chases around the farm (DB makes a beeline for the cukes) we now have extra rope tying the door closed.

Bulk tomatoes will continue to be available (20 lbs for $30), and pick-your-own free basil is still available as well.  Seconds of squash and cukes will continue to be available at the pick-ups, or you can always come up the driveway to look in our walk-in for a big plastic bag.

Thanks, everyone!  Hopefully peppers, husk cherries and maybe even corn are on the horizon.  There is a Have-A-Heart raccoon trap in the corn to try and protect it in it’s final week or two of growth!

Be well,

Reba and the HCF crew

CJ was so proud of her pints of cherry tomatoes!

Veggies Week 10 of 18:  Potatoes, Fresh Onion, Cucumbers, Zucchini and/or Zephyr and/or Golden Ball Summer Squash, Garlic, Winterbor Kale, Cherry Tomatoes and/or Slicing Tomatoes, Basil, Carrots

This week’s recipes:  Zucchini Rice Gratin, Carrot Cucumber and Onion Salad