July is hot and furious on the farm. Wow. Things just keep getting more and more pretty. We’ve spotted our first little tomato fruits, broccoli heads, and squash blossoms. And the blue corn is knee high, as they say.
The bees are constantly a source of smiles. Seeing them throughout the day, busily working on the mint and chicory, they are good farming companions. A couple days ago, as we were headed in at the end of the day, we noticed Anna Karenina sporting a thick, burly mountain man beard. All the bees seemed to be hanging out outside the hive, right by the entrance. They don’t usually do this. It was alarming until we realized the hive is just doing a little temperature regulation. Together the bees create a lot of heat. Think of the friction generated by thousands of little feet scurrying around and wings bzzing inside a small wooden box smack in the middle of the sun. Usually the inside of a hive is around 90-95 degrees F, which is optimal temperature for rearing brood. Worker bees will fan the hive and bring in droplets of water to regulate temperature and humidity, to keep things comfortable for their queen and babies. And when it’s just too hot, they’ll cluster outside the hive instead of heating things up inside. So smart.
We are Week Three into the CSA season. Here’s a photo of the farm share this week. 
Turn up the beets! Our CSA share this week included beet greens and baby beets, thinned from the beet rows. The beet greens are delicious. And absolutely gorgeous. Amy Goldman does those photo heavy books of really sexy vegetables like squash and tomatoes. She ought to write one on beets.
And to top it all off: the greenhouse is growing! Marcus, Jeremy’s diligent little brother, has been coming over nearly every day to help dig out post holes for greenhouse footings (thank you, Marc). On Tuesday a concrete truck came in and we set the pilings for the greenhouse pole-barn timbers (thank you, David and Kyle and Derek). We’re really excited about the greenhouse and we wrote a little bit about the design in the CSA newsletter here.
And finally, mark your calendars! We are having another WEEDING PARTY at the farm, next Saturday, July 14. From 9AM to noon, with a potluck lunch to follow. We have rows and rows of vegetables that need weeded, and we need more hands. It’s a great chance to catch up with friends, meet your neighbors, share ideas – it’s BIG FUN. If you can’t make it in the morning, please come to lunch, feast and visit with us at noon! We look forward to seeing you on the farm!
Cycle Farm 