August 9 – From the Farmer……..

It isn’t much fun harvesting in the rain – but we are so thankful to finally be getting rain again that we are not complaining too much.  Following last week’s irrigation and 3/4 inch of rain on Friday, along with the bit today, our tomatoes and pepper plants are looking much happier and we are delighted not to need to run our drip irrigation around the clock. 

We are also thrilled that the tomatoes are ripening.  We hope you enjoy the Taxi and Orange Blossom tomatoes this week as much as we are.  This would be the time to get ready all your recipes that use tomatoes, because if the hot weather keeps coming, the tomatoes will ripen fast and furiously over the next few weeks.

Our neighbor Tom, whose mechanical ability we rely upon has been methodically tearing apart our Ford 8N tractor and replacing an assortment of parts that have been wearing out.  I guess all the vineyard mowing with the new (used) finishing mower had make our poor little tractor work pretty hard, doing a lot more than we usually ask of it at this time of year. 

Sad news:  one of the five baby chicks hatched  a few weeks ago, drowned in a water bucket this week.  The other four continue to do well with their mother hen.  The two turkey chicks also continue to thrive with their two mother turkeys.  Our Bourbon Red turkey hens are extremely protective of their baby chicks, attacking anyone who comes too close including Willow, our Chocolate Lab dog and neighbor Tom when he comes to work on the tractor. 

The five little pigs continue to grow into big pigs very fast.  They are finally big enough for a feed and feeder that can be filled with many pounds of feed and sifts down as they eat it.  Their automatic water bowl also keeps the pigs happy contented, as do the automatic waterers we now have for all the goats and Pound Cake the calf.

All is well at the farm.  Until next week……………….

 What’s In Your Share this week:

Carrots                        Forto

Sweet Pepper              Gypsy (yellow), Islander (purple)

Hot Pepper                  El Jefe Jalapeno, Hot Banana

Eggplant                      Classic (purple), Galine (purple), Dancer (pink), Thai Green

Radish                         Summer Cross Diakon

Summer Squash          Assorted

Kale                             Red Russian

Onions                         Sierra Blanca

Tomatoes                     Taxi (yellow), Orange Blossom (orange), or Pink Beauty (pink)

Basil                            Genovese

Thyme                         Summer

Beans                          Romano [possibly - if it does not rain on Thursday morning]