July 1, 2024

A Week of Celebration
See below 😊

What is in your CSA Share this week?

Last week some items that were promised didn’t happen, and some extra things happened that we didn’t expect. This list is our best guess, but things are happening fast right now and we can’t always predict what will be in your bag.

Last week’s share

Lettuce – there will be some, but we are experiencing a lot of deer and weed pressure and I am not sure when we might run out
Chard
Kale
Arugula – this is the last pick for awhile
Onions
Collards
Peas of some sort – you will get one or the other. The way you tell, if you can’t see it (sugar snaps are like a crescent moon, and the shell peas are usually more straight, is to take a bite out of it; if you can’t masticate it, you have shell peas
- Sugar snaps – eat the whole thing,
- Shells – pop them out of the shell
Broccoli for some
Squash for some
Mint – peppermint of spearmint
Chives
Oregano
Kohlrabi – enjoy that beautiful purple color, and then grate the ball into a salad, or slice it and enjoy raw, or you can cook it, in a soup – see Jennifer’s recipe below

We are still taking shareholders. The price goes down every week and the prices and terms are on this page – https://mhof.net/csa-order-form/

Watch on Facebook
Watch on Instagram

Julie interview

We are so excited that your podcast episode is now live!

First, here’s the link to the episode and shownotes:
https://www.thrivingfarmerpodcast.com/Julie-Rawson

Bre Taylor
Growing Farmers Team
Website: www.growingfarmers.com
Podcast: www.thrivingfarmerpodcast.com

Predation report

We lost a lot of lettuce this past week to deer and a baby layer to some carnivorous predator. Skippy, Dingo and Harriet are doing their best, as are we strategically posting them in our fields. Wish us luck, and bow hunters, please be in touch.

The deer prefer the centers of the lettuces

Seaweed update

It is coming on Wednesday at 12:30. You will hear a lot about it next week for sure.

Volunteering at MHOF

Yes! Monday – Friday – 6:30 – 3 or some portion of that.

Thanks to Ryan, back from two years ago, and son Paul, and his boys Geoff and Matt, with Paul coming for a second day.

‘

Shawnee, Geoff and Paul at the party

Farm, Family and Friends Party on June 29

Yes, it was very fun! Thanks to all who came to celebrate our farm community, Jack’s 80^th, Clare’s departure (sometime) and Matt’s award. Jack and I really can’t express enough how blessed we feel.

Dan cleaning house before the party

Sarah worked for us in 2015

Julie Extolling Jack’s virtues

Matt Korn Underground Utility System

Clare kudos

Watch on Facebook

The unveiling of the hoop house

Watch on Facebook
Watch on Instagram

Clare did enjoy her hoop house

MHOF farm heavies – Paula, Stu, Jennifer, Danny and Owen

Some of our Dorchester friends at the after party

Jennifer’s Recipe of the Week

Kohlrabi Kale Quinoa Salad

If you were at the party, you may have had the chance to try this already. Enjoy

View Recipe Here!

Farm Doins

Besides trying to farm this week, we hosted Ellen and later her husband Dan, son Paul and his family came for a week to a B and B in Athol, Cathleen had a birthday,

and Shawnee had a birthday.

Watch on Facebook
Watch on Instagram

Mat had a birthday too!

Watch on Facebook
Watch on Instagram

This week we finished the old pig house renovation, emptied the entire haystack at the bottom of the driveway, mulching the corn, the first broccoli crop,

6 squash beds (also with some leaves, finished mulching the tomatoes and potatoes, the yellow house, four new cabbage and broccoli beds,

and over half of the sweet potatoes. Progress continued on the summer onions. We planted another bed of lettuce

Mat, bless his soul, weed whacked a lot of really messy areas, and for the moment the place looks a little less rag tag than normal.

We will miss Mat who is back at school again this week

We got our new replacement sprayer and were able to do some backlogged foliar feeding.

Some folks showed up from South Dakota to take soil samples on Sunday

Summer is barreling forward and we are hanging on by our fingernails, which are rather short and sometimes bruised in this time period.

My biggest challenge at the moment is to figure out which fires to extinguish and in what order!

Julie

Quick Links

Buy meat
CSA pick up information
Contact Julie
Products available right now at the farm
Become a working shareholder
Donate to the MHSC
Links Workshops

Link to buy J and J’s book – Many Hands Make a Farm-
https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/many-hands-make-a-farm/