We’re trying hard to find the silver lining to this weather, and I think we finally have:  we’ve never had such gorgeous corn.  Rain?  Loves it.  High heat?  Loves it.  Rain again?  Bring it on.  We started this corn seed in the greenhouse and transplanted it in the field, and all this TLC will hopefully result in as early and delicious a sweet corn harvest as we’ve ever had.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Many of the other plants are not so thrilled with the weather, and we were crushed this week to realized that our second planting of potatoes had mostly rotted in the ground.  The first planting rotted back in early June, and we re-ordered seed and re-planted with high hopes.  But when rain doesn’t let up, potato pieces in the ground don’t stand much of a chance.  We hope to have plenty for  the CSA, but the new potato quarts we count on selling to the co-ops definitely won’t happen this year.

We’re lucky to have two  wonderful new members of the farm crew.  Christine is a German WWOOF volunteer on the farm for the month of July.  She’s great, and we’re trying to give her some unique Maine experiences while she’s here (anyone want to take her out on a sail?!).  Zoë Mason is our newest apprentice, and she will be with us four days a week for the remainder of the season.  We feel lucky to have them both.  Our whole crew has been dealing with the heat admirably, and this week Reanna even brought her extremely game parents and boyfriend to work on the farm.   We realize we’re surrounded by a pretty amazing community between our crew, our members, and all the various other volunteers who popped in to help throughout the week (Sarah, Christopher, Pam, Bob, Tabitha, Dan, the Howlands, Bonny, Jen, the other Zoë and Dylan, Alicia, all the grandparents…).  Maybe it takes a village to raise a child, but this week it felt like it took a small city to run a farm!

Take care, and we hope you have a week full of wonderful meals,

Reba and the HCF crew

Veggies Week 4 of 18:  Garlic Scapes, Mesclun Mix, Scallions, Chard, Cilantro, Broccoli and/or Sugar Snap Peas and/or Zucchini or Zephyr Summer Squash

This is a Chicken and Egg week

This week’s recipes:  Garlic Scape Pesto, Broiled Tofu (or Fish, or Veggies…) with Cilantro Pesto

This week’s cheese share

We don’t often let crazy pirate farmer Bill wash the veggies, but it was a hot Saturday and we though he could use some time in the cool(er) wash shed. Here he is, pointing at a scallion with his knife to ask “is it clean enough for you?!”