In the Share: Week 17
TOMATO (F) perhaps enough for the full shares. We’ll see after the cherry tomato harvest that may be delayed by rain.
SWEET PEPPER (P) in many colors and shapes but all sweet.
RADISHES OR SWEET PEPPERS (F) the first of the fall radish crop.
RATTLESNAKE BEANS (F)
POTATOES (F/P) the last of them, sadly. Soon the sweet potatoes will fill-in.
CARROTS (F/P) the last of the storage carrots from the spring. The fall carrots are starting to develop their roots.
ONIONS (F/P) from storage
HERB CHOICE (F/P) thyme, chives or basil or a dried herb.

Also this week: Parker Farms meat & egg shares

Next Week: More radishes, peppers and greens. Winter squash and garlic. Perhaps the first turnips, arugula and lettuce. Bread share delivery.

FARM ALERT: The meeting of two weather systems, the left-over of Gustav and a cold front, threaten to make tomorrow’s harvest dicey. We’d be happy with rain, as long as the thunder and lightening stays away. So, if your signed up to come tomorrow, please do and bring any rain gear, boots or otherwise, that you may have. A lot of the share this week is coming out of storage or was picked today so we won’t be completely washed out. The beans, herbs, radishes and cherry tomatoes could be affected if we can’t get out in the fields. One of the fun things about farming, nature keeps you guessing.

Farm report
We spent our labor day weekend with assistance from Tom’s two sisters and neice and nephew visiting from Cincinnati. Pictured is Jeanne and her two children, Leah and Franklin, helping sort tomatoes on Saturday morning. We were able to also fit in a farm tour, fossil hunt, barbeque, Jesse James, Watkin’s Mill and lots of farm produce before they headed back on Sunday.

September marks the last gasps of summer, and more hints of fall. The pepper harvest is in full swing. There is lots of ripe fruit, but also new little green ones forming. Today we pulled another row of tomato cages and more clearing of the summer crops is in the works. We’ve been zealously weeding, watering and spraying (with Bt, a biological pest control) the fall crops and they are looking pretty good. The solar-powered irrigation pump has been going continuously while the sun shines and the crops seem to have survived a pretty dry August.
It’s fitting that a soggy distribution day will most likely herald the last of the all-but-failed melon crop. We are sending in some Sugar Baby watermelons to distribution this week that are questionably ripe. If you got a bum melon from us at some point in the season or have never received a melon from us, please take one along with our apologies. If you have gotten a good melon from us, please take a pass and let your fellow members get their fair share. We really dislike having to parcel the melons out this year, but despite a lot of effort, the weather and the beetles were too much for them.