The big news of this week: We are loving this rain! It is just what our crops need right now, a good soaking rain over a few days.
We are only halfway through our CSA season. Can you believe it? Many people think that because summer is coming to an end that CSA should end, too. However, we have completed only 12 of the 24 weeks in the season, with CSA ending on November 19 this year. We have lots more yummy veggies in store for you this fall!
This week we have more watermelons and cantaloupe in shares. We will continue to ship the watermelons in a separate box. When you pick up your CSA Share, remember to take the packing list out of the sleeve on the box and check it to make sure you have everything. The watermelons are listed on a separate sheet just like meat and cheese shares. We have had some people miss their cheese share, too, and it hasn't been discovered until the following week at delivery.
Farm News
Grateful Life Farm: It's hard to believe we are approaching the last week of August and harvesting our third batch of chickens tomorrow! This has been the driest season of our seven seasons of farming, and we have been anxiously watching the weather forecast and discussing contingency plans should our well run dry. Our animals are currently consuming 45 gallons of water per day, irrigating the high tunnel uses 75 gallons every other day, and that is before our own needs for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning. This weekend's harvest will also use a significant amount of water as we fill our scalding tank and our chilling tank, rinse each chicken, and repeatedly wash our cutting boards, knives, and hands. When the meat is in the freezers and we still have running water on Sunday afternoon, Shawn and I will breathe a huge sigh of relief! In the last few weeks, some of my favorite crops have started coming it. The gorgeous faces of sunflowers greet me every morning, and each day there are more ripe tomatoes to harvest.
Check out the honeybee gathering nectar from the sunflower in the featured photo. And at Glacial Till Farm the bees are loving the buckwheat cover crop that is blooming.
Extras for this week include Country French Levain Bread from Going with the Grain Bakery and pecks of Roma tomatoes for canning from Detweiler Farm. We are featuring two cheeses from Pasture Maid Creamery this week as add-ons (not for cheese shares): Dill Cheese and Smoked Cheddar Cheese. These are two limited edition cheeses that Pasture Maid is testing, so if you order some let us know what you think so we can pass the feedback on to them. We have limited quantity of them, so grab 'em before they're gone.
Other varieties of bread and cheese, as well as lots more products, are available on our Webstore. Place your order to be delivered with your CSA Share for no extra delivery fee. If you haven't ordered from the Webstore before, follow the directions here.
On behalf of your NWPA Growers farmers,
Amy Philson
