Farm Update

Down on the Farm Excitement at the farm yesterday! Reporter Melinda Roeder and cameraman Brian from Baltimore's Fox 45 dropped by for a while. Melinda told me to do what I would normally do and they would just follow me around, get some shots and chat. I was planning to do some work in one of the chicken coops. I glanced down at Melinda's open sandal type shoes and thought maybe I should change my plan. I took them out to one of the fields that we were preparing for winter. The soil had just been fertilized with chicken manure and I looked at Melinda's shoes. I made a detour to the bee hives and for some reason many of the bees were in front of the hives in the grass...and I looked at Melinda's shoes. Then I had a brilliant idea. Let's put Melinda on the tractor and teach her to drive it! She was game, so up she climbed into the driver's seat. I explained the basic fundamentals and off she went across the field. When her short trek came to an end, I, as any gentleman would, said, "let me help you down". Melinda said, "I'm fine" and proceeded to step down directly on a rotten tomato. I quickly regained some of the composure that I had just lost and said,"Ah, that's an heirloom tomato, so if you save those seeds that are now stuck to your shoes, you can plant them next year!" She passed on being a seed saver and I hosed off her shoe. The story will air probably Tuesday night. Speaking of heirloom tomatoes..it's hard to believe that they are really slowing down already. We still have plenty of tomatoes, but not as many heirlooms as a couple of weeks ago. Some of the winter squashes are beginning to ripen and come into the market. Butternut and delicata squashes are available now, but many of the summer items are beginning to fade. Green beans will return in a couple of weeks. Our last area of beans were inundated with bean beetles and most of the beans were lost. In the market: Tomatoes Butternut Squash Delicata Squash Beets Patty Pan Squash Zucchini Onions Sweet Corn Mini Red Bell Peppers Green peppers Hot Wax Peppers Radishes Cherry Tomatoes Honey Chicken Eggs Hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve