Wow, here I am complaining again. Friday night Jack and I left home to go two towns over to visit son Dan and it started raining about a mile from home. Then there was a veritable downpour all the way to North Brookfield, such that Dan met us at our car doors with an umbrella. As we were preparing to leave 2 ½ hours later, it came down again, and again Dan ushered us to our car. I was pretty excited to get home and see what had happened at our house. Alas, there were a couple of drops on the windshield of the cars still in the driveway. Three times last week there were promises of rain, and nothing.
Saturday I carefully visited the parched fields in mid-afternoon and saw how bad it is getting. We now have our one hose-fed whirly gig on whenever there are staff here to help me move it, but that is only 4 ½ days per week. And we can’t seem to get around to all the fields fast enough. This week we will set up a system that I can move myself so that I can run it 24/7. Meanwhile yields have dropped across the board. Gosh, we are doing the best we can. 2026 will see the re-establishment of some sort of serious irrigation system on the farm. We irrigated in the years between 2006 and 2012, but got away from it because it didn’t seem necessary for many years.
Gratitude this week
To Cathleen, my chicken slaughter buddy of more than a decade, who always makes a long, back-breaking day of work seem fun. Thanks, Cathleen, for your joie de vivre. The meat chickens are now all safely sold or in the freezer – one harvest down for the year!
Check out that smile of glee on Cathleen’s face
And to Justin who was my main enforcer for our plan to harvest all ten rows of potatoes this past week. Amidst a lot of grass and plenty of help from others, we were able to pull it off. Sadly, the harvest was less than bounteous – good looking, well sized potatoes, but not many of them. I chalk it up to not enough water.
And to Ian, our 40-year-old profoundly challenged friend who put together a several page 8 ½ by 11 card with stars, farm animals and loving words. I do suspect that Gayle and Bob might have had something to do with it too! If you are at the house, remind me to show it to you.
Ultra Processed Food – Synthetic Dyes
compiled by Jack Kittredge
The FDA has announced a ban on Red No. 3, which is widely used as a dye in foods and ingested drugs such as candies, gummy vitamins, cereals, desserts and baked goods. The ban is based on the federal Delaney Clause, which requires banning products proven to cause cancer in animals.
The FDA and HHS have also announced a plan to phase out the following other synthetic petroleum-based dyes: Red No. 40, Yellow Nos. 5 & 6, Blue Nos. 1 & 2, Green No. 3, Citrus Red 2 and Orange B. These are used not only in candy and snacks but also surprisingly in meats, canned vegetables, preserved fruit, yogurt, drinks and drink mixes, seasonings and condiments and sauces. They have not been proven to cause cancer yet, but have been associated in studies with hyperactivity in children. For replacement colorings, the feds are recommending
natural food colors such as watermelon or beet juice for red, or carrot juice for orange. Replacement searches are actively being pursued by the food industry. Not all colors, however, can so far be produced naturally in as bright a fashion as the artificial dyes being replaced.
Synthetic dyes are not very old. The first was a shade of mauve invented 150 years ago as a byproduct of coal processing. But the vivid colors they produce have proven a market advantage. In 2017 General Mills tried to transition its cereal Trix to nature-based dyes. But the softer, autumnal shades were not popular, sales
dropped, and the experiment ended. A Kraft Jell-O and pudding line was also unsuccessful in trying to replace artificial colors.
Nevertheless, many international companies already use natural dyes in their European and Canadian markets and increasingly US products are now also adopting such color sources. The federal food and health agencies are working with food companies to make this voluntary transition complete by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Predation Report
Jack Kittredge
Readers will be happy to learn that although predators are still making a living around here, most of it is from off farm. Since the summer’s big 55-bird turkey heist (following upon the earlier two big chicken heists) our deployed-all-night three-dog patrol has kept malefactors noisily at bay. Vegetarian critters are still sampling the produce but, except for the raccoons in the corn, the damage has been tolerable.
Calls to the state wildlife people informed us that protective violence can be employed only when the culprit is caught red jawed, and then only by property owners or their full-time workers (none of ours are full time). Since neither Julie nor I is handy with guns we figure that is out. Hunting during the appropriate season, however (which can be found here), is an option. Anyone interested in using our property for such a legal purpose should talk to us. Rest assured that your prey will have eaten well!
We do believe that the reason for our birds’ good health and excellent flavor is their life-long enjoyment of access to pasture. Thus we will continue with moveable range houses, but need to provide them heightened security. We are checking into buying electric fencing, motion-detecting lights, and other ingenious protective devices to give the dogs some help.
Stay tuned for details.
2025 MHOF CSA
CSA Week of Labor Day – September 1 – 5
Dear Monday CSA members,
Please be advised that we will not run the CSA on Monday, September 1, but will run it on Tuesday, September 2.
CSA Week 14
I woke up Saturday morning at 2 am in a panic about the CSA and what we will be able to provide this week. I settled down a bit after making a list, however, and we should be able to provide some nice vittles, if not in the quantity I am used to giving. Slightly improving our irrigation this week should help a bit, though there is still no rain in the forecast.
- Lettuce
- Marjoram
- Basil
- Beet greens – these are thinnings
- Kohlrabi for smalls and mediums
- Celery for larges
- Kale
I never thought I would sweat raising good kale, but this is the first good looking kale of the season
- Maybe a summer squash or cucumber for each?
- Chard – my hero crop
- Tomatoes
- Oregano
- Parsley
- A little bit of corn – hoping the coons don’t come back this week
- Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower
- Peppermint
- Summer savory
Sign up for the fall share now
We have 35 fall shares available for sale. Right now, we are scurrying to replant as many of our beds as possible that are emptying out with great Asian greens, spinach, and lettuce. Some of all of this will go into the hoophouses too. There will also be some storage crops.
Week 1 of the 2024 fall share
Would you like to sing with Circle of Song?
We are a chorus that has been in existence for 25 years. I am the choral director and work with others to guest conduct. We sing 4-part harmony from almost any genre. Notably, we challenge ourselves with music that is not an easy read, but still accessible.
We meet Thursday nights September through May at the Barre Town Hall with two concerts per year – Mid-December and Mid-May. There is a sliding scale annual membership fee of $40-$70, students $25.
We start the fall session on Thursday, September 4, 7-8:30 pm. The docket this session is as follows –
Regina Coeli, Mozart – guest conducted by Beth Bryant
Java Jive – also conducted by Beth
O Magnum Mysterium, Lauridson – conducted by Scott Bryant
Mary Did You Know? – conducted by Nancy Afonso
White Christmas, Irving Berlin – conducted by Jeff Williams
Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair, Clausen
Irish Prayer
Seal Lullaby, Whitacre
At the River, Copland
I will be conducting the final 4 pieces.
We are a very social, no-nonsense group of singers with no pretense (kind of how I am, I guess!)
If you would like to join us or come and check us out at the first rehearsal, be in touch at julie@mhof.net; 978-257-1192. Or just come to the Town Hall on Thursday, September 4 at 7 pm.
Thanks for reading, Julie Rawson, COS director
Staff Updates
Both Leslie and Devra have moved to working shareholder status. And the rest of the staff have cut their hours here and there as our income sources don’t meet budget. Amanda is the third MHOF staffer to come down with Lyme disease this season. And Matt is presently on disability at his real (firefighter) job and not able to volunteer at the farm due to department regulations. We are having to share around his many responsibilities while he is gone.
Matt stopped by to download all the important pig moving info to Justin and Marj. The next big pig move will be done in his absence.
John, who was volunteering off and on all summer, has found a full-time job and reports that he is enjoying it immensely. Em has gone back to Quabbin Regional High School for her Senior year.
Em, in her signature hat harvesting potatoes with Marcia
Regardless, we get the work done, each of us focusing in on the job at hand in very impressive ways, and we end each day with words like, “That was a good day.” Or “we sure accomplished a lot today.”
Thinking of becoming a working shareholder this fall? Now is a great time to join us.
Farm Doins
Cathleen, Nick, Brandon, Justin and I had a really good time last Sunday at our annual meat bird slaughter. I suspect that might seem gruesome to some, but there is a special bonding of a group that performs this task that is low on the list of things people want to do with their time. Thanks, all.
In the hay department, Jim cut another swatch in the pond field (including an area by the pond that we have not cut in probably 10 years, thanks to the drought). Justin raked it and he and Amanda (Lyme and all), Marj and I picked it up on Friday afternoon.
Every day we worked on the potato harvest, bringing it in finally on Friday.
We almost got all of the two garden carrot beds weeded. Germination was light as we were unable to keep enough water on them, but there will be somewhat of a fall crop. And we replanted some more lettuce and bok choi and tatsoi, also struggling to keep them wet enough. We also planted some more cilantro.
We mulched a bunch of stuff in the back of the south – fall crops of kale, collards, broccoli and cabbage, and have nice piles awaiting us to finish up this week, hopefully.
The peaches started coming in this week. This is a very small percentage of what we harvested last year, but there will be a few for the freezer. We were happy to give our deck grapes to all of the shareholders last week, though as I look at the other supplies, they look quite light, I assume because of the drought.
Danny got stung by a few yellow jackets while harvesting grapes and I got caught eating them (the grapes).
Every dusk these days I look forward to driving, with Jack and the dogs, out in the Subaru to the dogs’ night watch job. They are so excited to get to work. And then, at 5 am, under a starlit sky, I go out in my bare feet and enjoy immensely the cool, wet grass, to unhook them. What a way to start the day!
Welcome to September. Pray for rain.
Julie
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