BEANS  ?  We will pick the patch tomorrow for the first time and we may only have enough for either full or partial.  Whoever misses this week will get some next week.  We planted beans four times this summer and are happy to get some finally to grow and fruit!

TOMATOES F/P  Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and heirloom and hybrid slicers make up the mix.

DESIREE POTATOES F  Creamy yellow inside and blushing pink outside.  All delicious.

SWEET PEPPERS F/P  The peppers are ripening now.  Their are Carmen horn-shaped red ones, yellow and purple bells.

EGGPLANT P

RED ONIONS F/P  An assortment of three types including the Tropea onion, from the Ruggieris ancestral homeland.

SALSA PACK OR EGGPLANT F

HERBS OR HOT PEPPERS F/P  We are sending in dried herbs, dried cayenne peppers and fresh hot peppers.  The basil may be gone for the season.

NEXT WEEK:  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, salsa packs and garlic

FARM REPORT:
Thursday morning we welcomed 62 new residents to the farm.

 Day-old chicks were shipped overnight in a cardboard box from Cackle hatchery in Lebanon, MO to the post office in Kearney where we picked them up and quickly got them to their new home.  For now they live in the brooder, a large box in the barn where we can keep them safe and warm.  Their first food from us goes on paper towels to get them started eating.

The chicks are Americaunas which lay blue, green or pink eggs, Dominiques that lay brown eggs, and Brown Leghorns that lay white eggs but don’t expect any eggs from these little girls until sometime in February.  For now we check on them several times a day and make sure they are staying warm and well-fed and to get some free entertainment.  Kitten videos are okay, but these little girls (and 2 boys) are pretty darn cute.

Since they have arrived their downy coats have gained the first feathers on their wings.  Once they have all of their feathers we can begin to let them out for short runs in the grass.  By the Harvest dinner (Sept. 13!) they should be out in our little coop with a yard to explore.

And we saw this in the field – mating monarchs!