Broadturn Farm

(Beauty)

A friend of mine who is a school teacher once told me she equates August with one long Sunday. This would mean that June is the equivalent to Friday and July is like Saturday.

The big news of the week is not great. In fact, it makes our hearts sink. The late blight is moving north fast and we are near to losing most, if not all, of the tomato crop. We have our fingers crossed and are harvesting tomatoes as fast as we can to guarantee a taste for everyone. Other farmers in the area have pulled their crops and farmers in the Hudson Valley region are announcing that tomatoes will be absent from the market and CSA shares this season. One of our brides for this year emailed from NYC to tell us her CSA farm has late blight and they will not be able to distribute tomatoes or potatoes this season.

If there weren't biological explanations for plant disease and insect infestations, we would surely be blaming the gods and maybe even consider some sacrifice to divest our farm from the tragedy that is this season. As it stands, we start pondering the possibility that large agribusiness on the west coast has been funding the seeding of clouds to cause an abundance of rain and sprinkling late blight spores on fields in the northeast. It is so easy to turn to big brother as a scape goat for all things gone wrong. The reality is that we are honing our ability to keep all things in perspective. We try our best to do this work and keep our sanity and our souls intact. Most days, we lay our heads down with satisfaction, knowing we are trying our hardest to do the right thing. But often, in the summer, we wake up in the middle of the night, stressed out about something....sometimes its concern for the safety of the livestock, other times we worry about the satisfaction of our customers. This season, it is our customers we worry about. This is the season that is truly testing the CSA model...the "we're partners....all in this together" concept. This has always felt easy, until this year. We thank you for all your support and understanding as we coax the farm along. Where are the garden fairies when you need them?

(Entertainment)

This Week's Harvest

• Green Beans
• Dragon's Lingerie String Beans ( you can eat the whole thing!)
• Lettuce
• Basil
• Tomatoes
• Summer Squash/Zucchini/Patty Pan squash
• Potatoes
• Celery
• Onions

Blessings on the meal,

Stacy and John

(Things we can control)