The latest podcast of Ari Whitten’s covers corporate capture of science, ideological bias, glyphosate, golf courses, war chemicals, and myriad other topics that stimulated my thinking process in new ways. I learned for the first time (or perhaps remembered again) that the reason glyphosate causes gluten sensitivity, is because not our genes, but the genes of our microbiome use the shikimate pathway for digestion, and glyphosate disrupts that pathway. As noted in the quote above, Dr. Hendlin preaches a message of hope with communities working together. https://theenergyblueprint.com/yogi-hendlin/?inf_contact_key=f495036b257305b515a3a89958443395121216c3a82d754a88f6751e8a28a7b5

Special Gratitude this week

The week is a kaleidoscope of memories of the farm staff working to tame the agricultural beast. My special gratitude this week goes to the Tuesday crew who worked non-stop through the pouring rain for over an hour. But we got the soybeans weeded – Jason, Paula, Em, Luke and Clare.

What is in your CSA Share this week?

Last week’s share

Best guess

• Kale
• Collards
• Swiss chard
• lettuce
• sugar snaps
• shell peas
• summer squash
• cucumbers for some
• Basil
• Tulsi
• Oregano
• Chives
• Garlic
• Maybe some other things . . .

We are still taking new shareholders – here is where you can sign up  — https://mhof.net/csa-order-form/

I am aware that some of you flower share folks are beginning to wonder if we are going to pull off your 10 weeks of flowers. They are weeded and seaweeded, and the glorious ornamental sunflowers are soon to pop. Bear with us. We will either provide your flowers or issue a refund of some sort at the end if we don’t meet commitments.

Volunteering at MHOF

Come join us! We can absorb your help like a new sponge absorbs water.
Carlos and Star were back on Friday. What a blast we had!

Shantel, a long-term Saturday volunteer, is spending 4 days of her 2 week vacation working for us!

Turkeys

My favorite birds of all arrived on the farm Thursday. Jack made his annual pilgrimage to Bob’s Turkey farm in Lancaster. They are doing well – delightful birds. It is not too early to order your Thanksgiving turkey.
https://mhof.net/turkey/

Harriet loves the turkeys

Items that you can buy for your own food preservation

Starting now we will have some crops in enough abundance that you can buy them in quantity for preserving for your use in the next year. We now have kale at $3/lb. It is of exceptional quality, and is one of those superfoods.

Watch our kale preservation video on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1VUTjpnwM8&t=37s

Jennifer’s recipe for the week

Kohlrabi & Cucumber Sorghum Salad

Our digestive fires go down in the summer, all the more reason to eat in season as Mother Nature provides what we need in the moment.  Sorghum is an ancient Indian grain that is gluten-free, is packed with protein, fiber and iron.  It is easy to digest.  It is light yet filling.  It has the sweet, astringent, and bitter tastes which are all cooling.  Paired with kohlrabi, cucumbers and lime, which are cooling as well, this makes a perfect summer salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Sorghum, cooked according to package instructions
• 1 medium Cucumber, bite size pieces
• 1 cup chopped Snap peas
• 1 cup Kohlrabi, thinly sliced or zoodled (summer squash is an alternative)
• 1/2 cup chopped Green Onions
• 2 fresh Garlic Cloves, crushed
• 1 cup fresh herbs chopped:  parsley, basil and tulsi
• Dried herbs:
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Oregano
• 1 Lime, juiced
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• Optional:
  • Avocado slices
  • Pumpkin seeds
  • Balsamic glaze

To make:

• Combine all ingredients and stir well.
• May be eaten right away or chilled.

Farm Doins

I ended this week feeling a bit more anxious than I began it. The incessant rain and then heat keeps us scurrying from one crop to another, even in our well mulched areas, like the spring onions, trying to beat the weeds. These onions have been completely taken over by bindweed (perennial morning glory) and I have decided to pull them all and put them in the barn to dry, mow and tarp the beds and hope we can kill some of the bindweed.

Thursday was a memorable day in that we weeded and did some seaweeding of the basil, tulsi, eggplant, melons, peppers and young Brussels sprouts. Tuesday we weeded soybeans, and finished weeding and mulching the sweet potatoes. Speaking of bindweed – definitely public enemy number 1, followed by grass in a close second, we almost daily spend 5 minutes in the newly names Clare Caldwell hoop house pulling bind weed so that it won’t take over the tomatoes therein.

During CSA we weeded and seaweeded dill, cilantro,

cucumbers, some of the basil and tulsi, seaweeded the pole beans – now looking great and ready for a later but strong season of beans.

Of course we mowed, Luke foliared 3 mornings at 6:30, the entire farm, Jim cut some hay and mowed around fruit trees (though we never got a chance to rake the hay), and we did a final shake shake of the peach trees to get them thinned. Sadly, one of our peach trees split in half on Thursday, regardless of the thin. Saturday’s crew weeded and seaweeded all of the blueberries and ¾ of the grapes in the annex (where the pigs live), and Jack and I picked berries after hours each evening.

Jason successfully finished his first week of employment this week and will be working full-time starting today.

The seaweed is taking time to spread, though we made it through some number of tons this week. I am hoping it is an investment in the farm’s future resilience. I am pretty sure that the extended pea season is directly correlated to seaweed.

With nothing to fix this week, Danny ran the seaweed crew on Monday (we broke a chicken  house the next day, however).

Slugs and snails continue to plague us and the potato beetles have done some damage on the eggplants and potatoes.

Another late in the day activity is food preservation. This week we preserved lots of left over kohlrabi, more peas and sugar snaps, and some squash puree for our upcoming soups.

I haven’t yet decided what to do with the leeks and parsley that are very weedy, but want to prioritize the first planting of cabbage and the early Brussels sprouts for weeding this week – fingers crossed with some more very hot weather coming up this week.

And we need to plant some lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower and chard.

Skippy, Dingo and Harriet kept watch each night and no new deer damage was noted.

I almost didn’t write this week – the pressure of the season feeling a little too oppressive, but we are already halfway through July and things should start to slow in another 2-3 weeks. . . . .  This is the time of year when I vow never to be so busy next year!

Julie

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