Hello Friends & Farm-ily,
–
‘Tis the last week of August.. where did the time go?!
–
With the coming of September means that autumnal equinox is less than a month away, which means the days are growing shorter. It’s crazy how you go from hiding from the sun to chasing it as every minute counts! The past month has had some long days in store for us so we’re feeling ready for a change of pace, the cooler weather and shorter days. But, in the meantime, we’re charging through these heavy, productive harvests and enjoying the fruits of our labor. With hard work comes the bountiful harvest and we enjoy sharing the bounty/labor of love with all of you.
–
The watermelons all ripened this past week which is always super exciting! You know it’s peak summer when the melons come to town in the Willamette Valley. Next week we should have cantaloupes and even honeydews! Fun! The tomatoes are going bonkers and the heirlooms are beginning to shine! At the same time the pumpkins are ripening and the winter squash are beginning to cure in the field. Everything is happening all at once. And how about that broccoli… broccoli in August! And corn for the last 5 weeks! We’re feeling pretty proud of all the bounty and it’s incredibly rewarding to see all the plans and hard work come together.
–
–
The haze and heat of late has made for an ultimate microwave while catching up on seeding, weeding, planting and the beginnings of our storage crop harvests. At times it felt as though we were caught in the “thick of it” and we’d head inside because the air was literally thick and oppressive (a sweat while standing kind of heat). It did feel really nice though to have a break from the sun. We are truly looking forward to some relief with the upcoming 80* days ahead.
–
Last weekend we pushed through the 100* days and were able to harvest all of our storage onions and get them in the new barn for curing. During the evening hours on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday (our CSA harvest days) from 7-10pm Brian and I pushed our potato harvest forward and were able to get 2,600 lbs of taters out of the ground. This morning we put up another 5,500lbs of hay in the barn. This week we harvested 4,000lbs of produce for our CSA members. So many lbs we’re usually pretty pooped on “fridaze” as we call them… or the beginning of our “work-end” Ohhhh August….
–
Well, it’s time to get back to! Time to plant all the things. To start there’s about 3,200 row feet of winter crops. Followed by even more winter crops! (I don’t dare say or I’ll get scared). Wish us luck and send us all the energy you can. And as farmer Brian wrote the other night on instagram, “Whatever you do don’t stop pushing. Don’t sit down. Don’t stop. After all, “The only way out is through..
–
–
Summer Pork Sale! Our Fall Pork will be coming back from the processor very soon so over the next few weeks in order to make room in our freezers we are having a summer pork sale on our Online Farmstore! We have an amazing selection of USDA recipes and cuts that make our pastured heritage pork shine! Products available by the share and by individual cuts. Including Uncured & Nitrite-Free** Items & Over 10 different kinds of Fresh & Smoked Sausages!
–
Here’s the link to our Online Farmstore: http://workinghandsfarmstore.com/collections/all
–
For those interested, we also have a few Whole Hog/Half Hogs available: please see the email titled “WHF Whole and Half Hogs now AVAILABLE!”
–
=-
Bulk Tomatoes! Wow, thank you everyone! We are amazed and overwhelmed by all of the bulk tomato orders – it’s awesome! If anyone else is interested please check out the email titled “WHF Bulk Tomatoes” for more information.
–
Until next week….
–
Take good care,
–
Your Farmers
–
Jess & Brian
–
dirty hands, clean hearts
–
working hands farm 
