Howdy Folks,

Happy Summer Solstice!  After that chilly dip in weather, we’re looking to come roaring back into summer!  Go! Go! Go!

It is interesting to see how weather affects vegetables.  I was certain we would have zucchini to harvest for the weekend.  If not Saturday, then Sunday.  Nope.  It’s Tuesday and all the fruits that I saw are almost exactly the same size!  It's a little shocking to see and clearly understand that unseasonable cool weather can stop production for a minute or days on end.  I was surprised to see basil is showing no signs of stress which it usually does after the temperature drops to 42, which is the low that we had here the other night.

We’re pretty much finished with strawberries.  I hope you all had your fill.  We had our fill of harvesting them!  It is a difficult crop to harvest being that they’re so low to the ground.  Its not that bad.  What’s beautiful about the style of farming we do is that we move on from crop to crop and it seems to line up well with the feeling of feeling done with harvesting a certain crop.  

So, we’re moving on to more vegetables and, as usual, I’m encouraging them as much as possible to HURRY UP!  Tomatoes and broccoli are both starting to produce.  Carrots will be ready around July.  Melons and Eggplant have been uncovered from their row covers as they begin to flower, this allows the pollinators to have access to blooms and therefore pollinate these flowers to make fruits, and they are chugging along.

We’ve seen lots and lots of black snakes (racers) this year.  I had neighbors bring me their snakes instead of them killing them.  Now they are lots and it’s a good thing because we have never had so many voles on the property.  They are a scary force when their numbers are great just like any rodent.  The good news is that a balanced ecology will take care of the excesses by bringing in the predators.  That’s the way we prefer to take care of most things here…just let nature do it with a little encouragement and community support.

Stay cool this week!  Remember to keep hydrated!  Water is life!  Drinking plenty of water is how we make it through the long days exposed to the sun in the fields.  A little special farmer drink we like to have on hand on these especially hot days is Switchel.  It’s super easy to make and it helps keep you electrolytes where they need to be.  We don’t measure, we do it more to taste, but to approximate… fill a ½ gallon jar of water ¾ full, then, add ½  cup apple cider vinegar, & you can use any sweetener you like, but we find that ¼ cup honey or maple syrup are the nicest.  Sometimes we will soak an herb in water, overnight for the water base of the Switchel.  Our go to these days is either mint or hibiscus. 

Your Farmers, 

Chris, Aeros and The Who Crew