Hope you've had a fantastic 4th of July. As I write this, the kids are out watching all the neighbors shoot off fireworks. Booms and squeals of delight are ringing in my ears.
I'll keep this brief today because I want to get out there before the show is over as well.
A couple things to keep in mind:
1) Be on the lookout for another evening work day on the farm. Maybe this Tuesday evening. If you've feel like you missed out the last couple opportunities or if you just can't get enough, be on the lookout for an invite to harvest onions and trim garlic.
2) Lee's Summit folks, remember that we are moving to Abundant Life church parking lot at 304 SW Persels Rd, Lee's Summit, MO 64081. I'll send out a specific reminder later in the week about that.
3) Swaps and extras. So, you may have noticed that if your initial Harvie share includes an item like a cucumber, then cucumber won't show up as an option when you try to swap out something like cilantro, but it will show up in extras. If you want a second cucumber, you don't have to just pay extra. In the case here, you would delete the cilantro first. That opens up room in your share (monetary room) and then you would go down to the extras and purchase a cucumber or just hit the plus button by your cucumber in your share. Pro tip: sometimes when you delete something in your share you'll get a little message on the screen that says you have more room in your share to add extras at no charge. If you see this message, you should totally grab something to add to your share. Depending on the value of the item, it may add at no extra cost or it may end up charging you for a portion of the extra item. You can always see what your charges will be if you scroll down when reviewing your share on Harvie (I'm not talking about on the email itself but on the website).
So what's coming soon on the farm? Well, we hope to have some honey off our hives within the next couple weeks, so stay tuned for that! We have some amazing fermented hot sauce from fair share farm this week. Spicy peppers are just starting to produce and we'll be picking the first round of green beens this week! There are a lot of tomatoes out there on the outdoor vines, but they're all green....come on sunshine!!! Going to be a super hot week coming up.
We were glad for the rain to recharge the springs that feed our irrigation pond to make sure we can keep the seedlings growing. To maintain the quantity and variety in your share's each week we plant seeds outdoors, seed flats for future transplant, and transplant outdoors every single week of the season and these tender transplants and seedlings need water, so we give it to them! Our lettuces get a quick watering 4x per day when it's in the 90s just to cool them down (one of the tricks that lets us grow lettuce in the summer, that and shade cloth). Those cherry tomatoes get watered 2x per day to keep them growing evenly and prevent splitting.
What grows well above 90 degrees? Weeds mostly! We're doing a decent job keeping on top of those although I always see room for improvement. If you've got a garden at home, keep the fight! Now is the time of year that you can absolutely lose your crops to the crabgrass! You can do it!
Sheri and I and our whole family are super grateful that you've made the effort to support your local farmers! We know there are lots of other way's you could spend your money and your time and we are honored that you share both with us. Thanks for doing your part making local farming possible. We appreciate you!
Your farmers,
Dave and Sheri
