Sorry to miss last week,just had a busy one.Fall smells are in the air,that vaguely tannic odor that lingers in the cool shadow of trees,where the temperature is at least ten degrees cooler anyway.Tie dyed maple leaves litter the ground and float listlessly down the river.Even though it is august still,my mind is conjuring greens and radishes,salad turnips and sweet potatoes.Tomato vines are black and crunchy,the last vestiges of once bountiful fruit set swing indolently in the breeze.I normally associate this kind of weather with September,but there is no beefing with mother nature,she always gets her way.As it should be.Saw recently a quote from the great Masanabu Fuquoka,Japanese sage and master farmer,who wrote the one straw revolution.He said that farming is less about growing food than becoming a better human being.Somehow it really resonated with me.After a week of wheel bearing blow outs,pest paranoia and the glorious birth of our newest farm family member Pluto,Gerda's calf.Who I carried on my shoulders,all seventy pounds of squirming newborn bovine a clear quarter mile ,he pissing freely down my front and back,me,stumbling through creeks and up muddy paths to the corral.In those moments,when calf piss is floooding accross your chest,Checkers is chasing a car,the girls are arguing I believe old Masanabu was right,that our daily life as farmers,what with animals,kids,veggies and machinery make us able to deal with so many facets of one lifestyle.When one crop fails and you look into the future and see a cornucopia,even if no one else can see it.

Just harvested near a literal ton of taters yesterday,me on digging fork,the rest of the crew on soil scrabble and tater recovery.We had the opportunity to use a potato plow from one of our neighbors,but I love the feeling of christmaslike joy when you turn the forked soil over to discover a huge nest of gigantic tubers,born in the andes who knows how long ago.For those eating with us,the next couple weeks may be a little slimmer,due to the flex time between the summer and fall crops.

Here's my best guess!!!

taters

basil

peppers

eggplant

onion

garlic

greens

Enjoy it all!!!!!

peace

gaelan