Hello all!

We know that everyone is suffering in the heat this week — the crops, the animals, the humans… it has been an intense one! We hope that you’re all finding ways to stay cool(ish) and are not too cranky from the heat (definitely not always possible, on my part). Hopefully we’ll get some rain and a respite from the heat soon — the crops would really be grateful and hence me, too. 

If you missed out on ordering Red House Farm Blueberries (wow those went fast!), you should check out Ewing Fruit Company in Warren. You can order certified organic frozen berries directly through them for pickup at their farm, and I believe they will be setting up a pop-up stand to sell fresh blueberries at the Heiwa Tofu shop on Route 90 in Rockport. If you made it onto the Red House Farm list with us, congratulations, and delivery will be in a few weeks!

While some crops have really struggled with the lack of rain and the heat this season, the sweet corn is looking more gorgeous than ever (click here for a pictures of Maple expressing her regal nature in the corn). I think the stalks grew a foot over the hot weekend! If we can beat the corn earworm and fend off the raccoons and deer (fingers crossed) we’re pretty hopeful for a banner year. Other hot summer crops are showing up like cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. A trickle at first will hopefully lead to a flood before long!

One event that we look forward to every year is the garlic harvest. It usually takes place the first week in August and we invite all members out to the farm to pull garlic bulbs, sort the heads, and hoist them up to the third floor of the barn. Because of Covid, though, we’re going to organize things a bit differently this year. The date we’re aiming for is Wednesday, August 5th. If you would still like to come volunteer with the harvest, please let me know ahead of time and tell me the time frame that you would like to come to the farm. We will set things up so that we can maintain physical distancing, will require masks if folks are harvesting or sorting remotely near each other, and will have hand sanitizer on hand at all times. We’d still love the extra help and hope that it will still feel like a community event, but we want to make sure to schedule so that we don’t have many people here at a time (and, super sadly, no small children this year — usually our favorite garlic sorters). If you would like to come help out, please let me know a time frame (even if just for an hour) between 8am and 4pm on Wednesday the 5th. Hopefully it will have cooled off a bit by then — we’ll be thrilled to see you!

We hope you’re all well, and that you have wonderful meals this week!

Reba and the HCF crew

CSA Vegetables Week Seven: Lettuce Mix, Cabbage or Eggplant, Zephyr and Zucchini Summer Squash, Beets with or w/o greens, Basil, Cucumbers, Eggplant or Cherry Tomatoes, Broccolini or Kohlrabi/Carrots, Parsley or Dill or Cilantro, Fresh Garlic, Tulsi (on extras table) 

Week Seven Add-ons: Eggs, Tofu, Yogurt, Ferments, Mushrooms, Cheese, Oil & Vinegar, Milk, Bread, Flowers, Little Jubba Fundraiser

This week’s recipes: Grilled Zucchini Ribbons with Pesto and White Beans, Bright Red Beet Hummus,  Ultimate Zucchini Bread