Pickup for your feast

By the time I finish writing this, it will be the Fourth of July. Come by and pick up your share in time to light the grill -- the farm stand will be open. Please bring your own plastic bags or donate clean extras for re-use by other farm patrons.

There are beautiful squash, carrots, and other things that would work great on the grill. Here's what I saw today:

Ronde de Nice

• Squash -- 3 kinds
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Spicy Asian Greens -- baby mustard greens and varieties of choi; great mixed with regular salad lettuce or for a saute
• Red and Green Leaf lettuce
• Garlic Scapes
• Siberian Kale
• Beets
• Escarole
• Spring Onions
  
• Carrots
• English Peas(the shelling kind)

You can put some flowers on your holiday table or use fresh herbs. Scissors are available to cut your own and flowers and herbs are free for members.

 New Vendor Items

There are several new items available for purchase today:

• Farmstead Fresh Raw milk Baby Swiss and raw milk Italian Parmona -- this vendor isn't certified organic, but uses organic methods. The Neighborly brand cheese are still being stocked as well.
• Trimona Organic Yogurt -- this is a whole milk yogurt but is naturally lower in fat. It's Bulgarian style; John described it as a thicker style yogurt. I think it tastes really smooth with a nice flavor. It's made near Ithaca. The Hawthorne Valley and Maple Hill brand are still being stocked as well.
  
  
• much More bread Fudgy Brownies -- bittersweet chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar, organic unbleached white wheat flour, vanilla extract, salt. You really can't go wrong. I ate one and it was the highlight of my day.
  
  
• Full Moon Farm Grass Fed Beef: sweet pork sausage, hot pork sausage, ham steak, nitrate free bacon, ribs, pork chops, ham roast, nitrate free beef andouille, nitrate free beef chorizo, kabob/stew beef, sirloin/sirloin tip, and beef shank.

John tells me that they are still working on getting goat cheese and bread from the suppliers. Hang in there. Taliaferro's own Applesauce is still available.

Deer heaven, for now...

Ian and Rich have been busy installing fencing around a large field away from the main house. They are installing the fence, because the deer are really damaging the crops here.

 

Deer print right next to crops

It's a very large series of fields and installing all the fence is going to take a while.

This gives you some idea of the size of the project. (Looking West)

Poles farther than my camera can capture. (Looking North)

Even though it was a super humid and warm day, Ian and Rich were steadily working to prepare the load bearing corners and gate posts.

Rich preparing cross wires to strengthen the corner structure.

Ian, in harmony with machinery, attaching a crossbeam to a load bearing portion of the fence.

Once all the fortifying has been completed for the corners and gates, Ian explained that they would then run wires through all the fence posts, and then the fence would be attached and pulled tight. Hopefully that will keep the deer from damaging the crops as they frolic through the fields.

Deer heaven, but only for a little while longer.

Happy Fourth of July

I'll leave you with this picture of what John said looked like a Smiling Tractor. Til next week, this is Leigh signing off.