All day yesterday I was optimistically looking forward to the sweet relief of the “cold front” that was supposed to be coming through to take away the brutal heat. And I mean brutal! According to my weather app pictured above, it was 101 and a real feel of 134 degrees. I figured the numbers for this weather station were totally loony, so I switched to another local weather station and it read a real feel of 117! I’m not sure I’d call it a “cold” front but it did go from blazingly hot to just really humid and gross, so I guess I’ll take it?
Either way, that’s some heat! So far, I haven’t noticed any damage to the plants – just mostly to my poor red neck. Tomato, eggplant, and pepper blossoms can actually fall off when it gets super hot and thus not form a fruit. And surely the cooler weather crops don’t love it! Fortunately I saw the heat coming and set up a crude irrigation system that seems to have got us through the worst of it. If you’re not feeling like turning on the oven, check out The UxLocale if you haven’t already. They turned our excess of basil into quite the caprese salad (pictured below). Can’t wait till our tomatoes start coming in to add to it!
With the heat, the summer goodies are starting to come in. I swear the zucchini grew half a foot Friday night, and I’ve started picking the first cucumbers from the tunnel – 2 months late, but better late than never? Some of both will be available Monday on a first come first serve basis as there isn’t enough to add to the website. To go along with a smattering of other limited veggies, the basil and fresh onions are especially looking great. And the lettuce! We’re picking out of the best planting of lettuce yet this season, which is saying a lot!
Veggie Ordering and Pickup Procedures: Put your veggie orders in online before 8pm Sunday. The website is a little buggy so if you don’t see a wide variety of items or you see items out of stock, try refreshing your browser. Also confirm on checkout that you have the correct number of each item in your cart. The two pickup windows are working well, so we’ll keep it going. Choose your pickup window while checking out online: 1230-2pm and 4-5pm Monday on the farm at 64 Potter Hill Rd in Grafton. Pickups are in the long white garage on the left across from the beat up tan and red barn at the crest of the hill.