About the Harvest: We are happy to have tomatoes and sweet corn for you this weekend. The rain is great for the corn but the dear are loving it too. They just walk over from our neighbors GM field corn into our field at night. I think they like organic better! This weather is not good for tomatoes as the constant moisture around the plants fosters a lot of disease. It also causes the tomatoes to crack. We'll keep the best ones for you. Enjoy
Farm News: This week we are short handed with all of our farm chores and harvesting because our oldest two children are away on trips. They are such good workers and we depend on them but they definitely deserve time away.
The fields are bursting with beautiful vegetables. Once again we picked 22 bins of zucchini and cucumbers today! We had a little gap in our cucumber harvest as our first planting died out last week but our second planting is ready now. I didn't even notice the gap but I do hope to get some pickles made in the next couple weeks.
In Other News, the other week, our PA certified kitchen inspector came on an unannounced visit to recertify us so we can continue to sell our bread and other farm made items that you enjoy.However, this time the inspector decided to inspect a work area that was never inspected before and, of course, found areas where we “aren’t in compliance” with PA regulations. These include putting our street address on our labels which already have our name and town on them, installing a floor in our building, putting in an extra sink, and installing a water filtration system. Most of the updates needed are able to be done but they come at quite an inconvenient time. It is the middle of the farm season, everyone is hot and tired, and it is difficult to think of more than the daily essential tasks. In our lives as farmers and small business owners this is just another hurdle that we have to get over. Our community of supporters is understanding and helpful as usual.
Over the weekend, many of our friends, customers and farm members showed their support by visiting our farm market stands both on the farm and in Bethlehem. Their purchases are helping us increase our cash flow to be able to pay for these compliance updates.
If you would like to join the effort visit our markets this Saturday or visit our online store. The full story about this effort can be found HERE.
