For those of you who were concerned for our sanity after hearing about the complexities of life on the farm in the last newsletter, you’ll be happy to hear that this most recent week was a good bit calmer! There’s still too much to be humanly done each day, and the weather and the bugs and the animals still throw challenges at us on a regular basis, but somehow it all came together in a much less dramatic way these last seven days. Check out our awesome crew hard at work transplanting and trellising tomatoes for summer fruit!

Things feel so good that I even made the call that the kids and I could go off to a weekend of fiddle camp! Bill and the crew will be taking care of the Saturday harvest and the Sunday delivery this weekend. The Week 3 veggie list might be a little less accurate than usual since, unlike normal, I’m writing this letter before the Saturday harvest actually takes place. But I can make a solid guess and I appreciate your understanding if I happen to be a little bit off! As for those of you who pick up on Sunday morning, thank them for me and if you can make extra sure that Jen checks your name off the list, I would really appreciate it. I won’t be there to spot you out of the corner of my eye, so in order for the crew to have an accurate count please check in.

For those of you who pick up at the farm, you have likely met our young dog, Maple, by now. In general, she is doing so much better at (relatively) calmly greeting members! If you happen to be wearing a hat, though, you can still anticipate getting barked at. She won’t be aggressive, she’ll just let you know with great agitation that she is very scared of the thing atop your head. One of her biggest remaining challenges is that she loves to get inside the pastured chicken coop and, despite the squawking and panicking chickens flapping about her head, will happily and calmly settle down for a meal of the freshest chicken poop she can find. It’s an image that occasionally pops in mind when I go in for a dog nose kiss. Also of interest to her are the new, adorable ducks that our longtime member and friend Ashby dropped off last week. After checking in with us, Ashby knew that we could absorb some of her extra fowl friends, and so last week I pulled into the farm driveway to find her shooing five ducks out of the back of her station wagon. I believe I would call it a drive-by duck dropoff. The ducks hopped out of the car and now can be spotted about the farm, avoiding Maple, cleaning up any spilled chicken grain, making a mess by the hose spigot, and generally enjoying themselves and making us smile. Come pay them a visit!

Please remember to bring your empty yogurt and milk jars and cheese bags back this week. I pay the deposit on the jars to keep the price low for members, so thanks for remembering to return them.

Have a great week, enjoy your greens, and know that I’m always available by text or phone (712-7382) with any questions or concerns!

Reba

Summer CSA Week 3 of 16: Green Cabbage, Lettuce Mix and/or Spinach and/or Arugula, Gailon and/or traditional Broccoli, Hakurei turnips, Collard Greens

Summer Week Three Add-ons: Milk, Bread, Tofu, Cheese, Mushrooms, Oil & Vinegar, Yogurt, Eggs

This week’s recipes: Roasted Broccoli with Garlic and Red Pepper, Fusilli with Collards, Bacon and Garlic

Fiore Week Three Notes, Cheese notes will be sent out separately