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Farm Fresh Produce - Naturally Grown - Stewardship of the Land

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Newsletter= August 12, 2010

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Highlights:

News Brief from the Farm

State of the Gardens address

What’s in This Week’s Coolers<= /p>

Annie’s Calendar

Closing Thoughts

Read on for details!

News . . . Most of us are just trying to wait o= ut the heat these days. I’m longing for some mellow, colorful , an= d a bit cooler fall days at this point. Everyone has their favorite but f= all is hands down the season I like best. Our house these days is an interesting place to live with some weekend carpenter efforts going on throughout most of the structure. Right now, our kitchen is the main focus and is underway on a shoestring budget. The old plaster is being patched, Annie is refinishing the some old cabinets and some new ones are b= eing put in as well. The “volatile green” countertops from the fifties are being updated with something a little less offensive to the eyes! It won’t be perfect by any means but it will be such an improvement over the old. We are so looking forward to being able to = move back in to it within the next month or so.

State of the Gardens address . . . Since the = last newsletter, the heat has just stuck with us. Rain has been plentiful = as well and the gardens are again suffering. We have been talking with o= ther producers and they are experiencing the same things we are. Out of 12 pepper plants, we had only four peppers and they were marginal. Our potatoes did much better than most with a plentiful supply still in the ground. The beats, rutabaga, onions, and lettuce have done very poorl= y in the heat and the wet. The tomatoes are taking a hit as well with no drying time. Working the gardens has become a real challenge with the soil so saturated that it is impossible to till without balling up the soil. It does look like some dryer and cooler weather is on the way s= o we will hope to get another round of planting in within the next few days.

The bees on the other hand are doing very well for a change even though their numbers are very reduced. As far as the per colony average, it will be the best we have had for five years! Even then, it is too hard to keep the bees alive these days so our focus will still remain more on the produce. We are down to 15 colonies from the 300 we once had and expe= ct to build that back up and maintain around 60 in the long run. That is enough to maintain the few stores we supply, do our traveling shows, and ha= ve some for our Annie’s Acres members. We of course also enjoy the free pollination services we get by having some of those bees on our home p= lace for the gardens.

What’s in This Week’s Coolers . . .

Annie’s Calendar

August 12 – Delivery to all full share members and= all “route A” half share members.

August 18* – Delivery to all full share members and all “rou= te B” half share members.

August 26 – Delivery to all full share members and all “route A” half share members.

October something – Canning Fest! Yet to be arrang= ed in the town of Darlington? More later.

* delivery for the normal delivery date of August 19^{th
will be made on Wednesday, August 18^th to accommodate for our tr=
avel
to Baraboo that week end. Please let us know if this will not work for
you.}

Closing Thoughts . . . Last weekend incl= uded our yearly trip to the Green Lake Conference Center for our church camping trip. It was a great weekend away with our church family and a bit of= a chance for us to recharge and get away from the grind.

The weekend of August 20^th will be our next outing = to the Badger Steam Show up between Reedsburg and Baraboo. Vannesa, our youngest, has taken the weekend off to be with us through that event and wi= ll be helping mother “man” the sales tents and tables we set up.&n= bsp; Our main offering is honey but Annie will also be selling her soaps and has added handmade quilts to the mix this year. These shows are a lot of = work for sure but we also get to spend some time just enjoying all there is to s= ee, do, AND EAT! These shows are an opportunity to look in the rear view mirror at a time past, a way to stay in touch with our heritage and the way life was not so very long ago. I’m always encouraged to see both young and old at these events as it is truly a way of drawing the generatio= ns together. Until next time . . .

Thank you from your gardeners,

Mark and Annie