Welcome to week #4 of the CSA program! I say this every year once we get to this week….”Man, the summer flies by!” Can you believe it’s been 4 weeks since we started?! Crazy!

Well, summer has finally decided to stay awhile and I guess she’s making up for lost time as we watch the needles on the thermometer soar well over 95 degrees and nearing 100 these next few days. It’s a hard pill to swallow after being in the 50’s not so long ago! But crops like zucchini, corn, and the pumpkins love this heat as long as they get enough water!

This week also finds Farmer Jon and I in charge of Farm Camp. Logan had to go to Lewistown for some preliminary teacher meetings before he begins teaching there this fall. So, that left Jon and I to take on Farm Camp! It’s been a blast! Kinda like being grandparents…we get to have all the fun without any of the stress of parenting! It’s awesome! We spent a lot of time at our forest property across the street which has access to the river for swimming and playing . It was sooo much fun! Some of the kids had never been in the river before so watching their sheer joy almost made me cry!

Around the farm, the excitement was the final calf of the season was born yesterday! We were blessed by some neighbors offering their 5 acres for us to use as a rotation in our regenerative cattle program. So, this little calf was born on the corner of 7th St. and Howard St. You can catch a glimspe of her if you drive by before Saturday. After the finish the last rotation of grazing the cows will them move to a new parcel of land and start all over with eating, pooping, moving, eating, pooping, moving!

What’s in the bags this week……

~Garlic: This garlic was literally dug 2 hours ago. It is sooo fresh. The interns didn’t wash it so if you let it sit out and dry, you can store it longer. But fresh garlic is so yummy, you’ll probably want to use it immediately!

~Italian Parsley and Rosemary: These are your herbs this week! Some of our very favorite on the farm! We use both extensively and love finding new recipes to try with them!

~Zucchini: We have harvested our 50+ plants every day this week! Jon and I sliced some zucchini up this weekend, threw them on the outdoor grill with olive oil, garlic and basil! They were SOOO tasty! Of course, I also love to toss some parmesan cheese on them too!

~Cherries: We made another run to our friends’ farm and orchard outside of Spokane to pick up more fruit from them! These cherries are the epitome of summer! We bet you can’t eat just one! Ha! We normally like to support the local Flathead growers, but they sadly got froze out in January and then later this spring. So, our local Flathead folks are coming up dry this season! Our hearts go out to them…farming in Montana isn’t for the faint of heart!

~Caulifower: Literally over night these beauties opened up and were ready! Many of them were sooo big we had to cut in half otherwise you’d be eating cauliflower until Christmas! Remember, we are an organic farm and do not use chemicals. So, that means crops like cauliflower and broccoli might have some “friends” hitchhiking on them. We recommend soaking your produce in cold water for 10-15 minutes just in case there are some pests. This year we planted rosemary around the broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage to deter pests and we actually have seen a reduction in cabbage moths and flea beetles. Whoo-hoo! Another win for organic gardening!

~Red scallions/small onions: Add some freshness and zing to your salad with these beautiful red scallions/young onions!

~Lettuce: We had to do some serious thinning of our lettuce bed today. So, you got the reward of the thinning! Fresh greens are perfect on a hot day!

~Potatoes: These are new potatoes and were freshly harvested this morning! Our interns love hunting for these! They only search the top couple of inches for the new potatoes. Harvesting them helps the deeper potatoes grow larger. These have been rinsed so probably a good idea to refrigerate them or at least take them out and let them air dry if you don’t use them right away.

~Garlic Scapes: These are the very last of the scapes! Enjoy

Please stay cool this next week! Hopefully, you can dip your toe in some local water to cool off! Thank goodness our nights cool off and the early mornings are beautiful!

Take care and enjoy your garden goodies!