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Hey friends & Farm-ily!
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Week 6 is upon us. Looks like the last bit of rain before the summer sun here on the farm. The soil is rich and decadent when the rains come. These long days are like magic. When plants go seamlessly from sprouted cotyledons to plants with flowers and ripened fruit. We forget just how quickly things grow when we’ve patiently waited forever since February and March for things to sprout & grow. When it takes months for the peas to reach up high, or the peppers to be safely planted outside in the ground. It’s an amazing thing to cultivate vegetables and even more amazing that we get to share in that bounty with you. Take a moment this week to notice just how everything looks in the garden because in the coming weeks things will have doubled or tripled in size and may even be bearing fruits!
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Cow Update. We’ve officially begun the drying off process with Ellie. It’s been about 3 days since we began and she has been doing surprisingly well despite her change in diet and in routine. Although she still appears swollen we’re hopeful the drying off will take and over the next week her body will re-adjust to no longer making milk. She really appreciates sympathy cheek rubs though so bring them along with you this week.
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It’s bittersweet as we’re sad to see strawberry season come to an end… but excited to welcome raspberry season!
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Chicken Update. With all the warmer weather the ladies of chateau poulet egg production has slowed down a bit. We introduced a handful of new birds to the flock in order to boost our numbers. Naturally, things tend to slow down when hens molt (our 2nd year chickens), get broody, or become stressed by the heat. We have our 30% shade cloth out there in hopes of creating a cooler environment for the girls. Alas, it’s all part of nature and we hope as the summer season rolls on that the hens in the house regain some balance.
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*Happy chicken news! Our chicken feed company – Scratch and Peck – received Organic Certification effective June 13th! We are proud to support the ONLY feed company in America to be 100% Organic and Non-GMO Verified. Go Scratch and Peck! You are what your chickens eat.
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Our favorite new tool.. the wheel hoe!
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Our Favorite Farm Tool. Your farmers would like to give a shout out to their wheel hoe this week. This fantastic tool has broke new ground for us on the farm (even farmer Brian loves weeding more) as it helps us to finish weeding multiple beds in the time it would take us a day or two to do it by hand. It’s amazing what can get done when you’ve got wheels! And like the package says, “if you see the weed you are too late…” – well these two farmers are on top of it now. Saving our hands and our bodies – working smarter, not harder – and onto the next chore to conquer…
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Fall CSA. We’ve had many thoughtful inquiries about the Fall CSA (we can’t get enough of the delicious bounty) and so we’re planting the seed as we prepare for buying seeds, amendments, soil etc. As our CSA members you will be the first to know all the details so be sure to look for that information in the coming weeks! Yay for fall crops!
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Time to get ready for fall seedlings!
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4th of July. A few people have asked about 4th of July which is a week from Thursday. Our pick ups/deliveries won’t be changing that week – everything will be just as it always is. But, if you will be out of town & would like your box donated or will have someone picking up for you that week, just let us know by Monday, July 1st. Normally, if you are taking a vacation or will have other folks picking up your box, 24 hours notice works just fine for us!
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Movie Nights. We’re still working on borrowing a projector for the summer. Ideally, it would be one that we could keep at the farm (we set up movie nights each week a few hours in advance to make sure all is working). We have the speakers and computer to hook it up to – all we need is the magic of a digital projector! Put it out there into the universe for us as this would be a fun summer treat!
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Belstar makes an amazing head of broccoli.. this one weighed in at 2.5lbs!
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Crates. We’re starting the week off short a few crates so please be sure to bring back crates for this week’s pick up/delivery. Your farmers thank you kindly!
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See you all this week!
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your farmers
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Jess & Brian
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dirty hands, clean hearts
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working hands farm 