Week 14

Hi All,

First thanks to Liz and all the farm hands for holding down the fort as we went back and forth to the ocean a couple of times last week. Driving through the eastern shore we noticed a lot of corn fields that were ruined from, I'm guessing, a lack of rain early on in the season. It breaks your heart to see something like that as that might be a farmers main crop and thus income for the year. It's not an easy living, that's for sure. I just talked to a big produce grower Sunday and they were hit by a hailstorm over the weekend in northern Harford county. They were assessing the damage, but it didn't sound good. One two minute hailstorm wiped out all our strawberries last year.

I am beside myself with our summer squash situation this year. Last year members were begging off yellow squash and zucchini as it kept coming for months. I even included squash blossoms in shares not only because they are the coolest things to stuff and deep fry or bake, but to cut down on the squash production. This year I can't get a squash plant to last beyond a couple of weeks once it matures. I've checked out everything I can think off and still not sure what's killing them off. We keep planting them so we can get at least a few. The patty pans seem to be doing a little bit better, but not much.

Another batch of our chickens head to the processor tomorrow morning and will be fresh and in the coolers through the weekend.

The fall transplants seem to be off to a pretty good start. I think we got the Chinese cabbage slaughter I talked about last week, under control.

It was such a beautiful day today, but as we walked around the farm we could start seeing signs that the season is beginning to change. The tomato plants are beginning to die off, all the onions have now been pulled from the ground, all the winter squash has been picked, and the watermelons are pretty much done. As soon as we get a few more cooler days and nights, we'll get the salad green seed back in the ground and in three or four weeks be munching on those fresh salads again. I think they always taste better in the fall.

You'll be getting another winter type squash this week, spaghetti squash. Bake it or microwave until fairly soft then take a fork and drag it across the inside of the squash. It will pull off in strands that look just like spaghetti.

We will have corn on Wednesday.

In your crates this week:

Spaghetti Squash
Green Beans
Red Onions
Tomatoes
Rainbow Belles (grape tomatoes)
Watermelon
Patty Pan Squash
Sweet Peppers
Jalapenos
Parsley

See you Wednesday!

Steve and Vicky