2015, Week 32

Dry, cracked, sad, dusty dirt. That’s what this thirsty swale, designed to capture excessive rainfall, looks like.
All of our fields are in varying degrees of similar stress. This week we are pulling up a lot of plants that have just given up. It’s heartbreaking. Farming is a tough life, but the Lord is good and He will provide relief, in His perfect timing.
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Monday night dinner at the Williams household – homemade tomato sauce, heirloom tomatoes, parsley, basil, green onions, garlic, onions, peppers, and Grateful Growers pork sausage. All but pork and onions came straight from the farm (aka our backyard)! I simmered this concoction for 30 minutes and then made baked spaghetti with it. I used all of the contents of this week’s box, except for the figs, in this recipe – and you can too!
Figs are available again this week – they’re one of my most favorite August treats! One of our farms has at least a dozen enormous fig trees of various unnamed varieties. This week, the small ones most similar to the well-known variety “Celeste” are abundant and delicious.
 
Sid and Jimmy took down the beautiful magnolia tree on the back side of Lilly’s house last week. I hated to see it go, but we have big plans to expand the porch deck on this side of the building (opposite side from the farm stand). We also hope to dig a well right here this winter, as well as move our cooler to this centralized location to improve our post-harvest and packing efficiency. Things are always changing and improving here at the farm, and all of the men – my Dad, Jimmy, Sid, and Matt –  are the masterminds behind these large infrastructure decisions.