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Oh man, is anyone else bugging out a little because it’s almost August? I mean, how did that happen? At least for me, time has been a bit surreal the past four months. I can’t believe how fast and slow things have been going. As we approach the beginning of August, that means the Summer Internship for the students is coming to an end. I’ll sing their praises next week for all of their hard work. In the meantime, the farm work continues in this crazy growing season. I saw somewhere recently that it’s shaping up to be the warmest July in 30 some-odd years. After the driest June in 20 plus years it only figures that it would be like that. I guess that’s 2020 for ya.

Our big task to complete last week was to harvest the garlic crop. That was about 2 weeks before we usually do it but the hot dry weather told the plants that it was time to get out. After we harvest the garlic, we sort them into “distribution”, “seed” and “seconds”. We save some of the biggest most uniform bulbs to plant for next season and the seconds get planted for garlic greens.We then hang them in bunches upstairs in the barn to cure for about a month. So you won’t see garlic in the share until the end of August. We also got a little transplanting done, some bed prep for some fall plantings and kept up with all of the needed maintenance for our crops in the hoophouses and greenhouse. They are all doing great and it shouldn’t be too long before your bags are filled with tomatoes, eggplants, sweet and hot peppers. The cherry tomatoes are really starting to take off and the students had the opportunity to taste some before my 18 month old got to them. We planted them 2 weeks after the beefsteaks in the same house and they have caught up and started to surpass them in height. The first hot peppers have started to ripen as well and they will be probably be available next week.

Ok, on to Meet the Interns!

Say hi to Cheyanne, folks:

• Favorite Vegetable: Strawberries
• Favorite Farm Task: Weeding
• What attracted you to the SFFS program at TC3: I grew up surrounded by farms on every side.
• What’s next for you after finishing at TC3: Saving up money to start my own farm business.
• Anything else we should know about you: I am a jack of all trades and I like to learn new things.

This is also Cheyanne’s third and final farming internship and she is on track to graduate in December. Cheyanne has been great to have on the farm. She’s up for any task that needs to be done and in the 5 years of this program, I believe she’s the only student that I’ve had that hasn’t missed a class. I remember back to my college days and the one word that I have is: impressive.

This week’s share is featuring some beautiful beets from our friend Sara over at  in Virgil. Farmer Sara has also been a field trip site in the past for students in the Sustainable Farming and Food Systems program. The first of the zucchini/summer squash is also in the share this week. Some of the early fruit isn’t as nice as I’d like due to poor pollination and the dry weather so I cut some tips off. You’ll want to use them up quickly. With the weather being so hot, we hate turning on the oven. So we grill a lot in the summer, including as many veggies as possible. Marinating the beets and garlic in some oil and spices is top notch. And nothing beats hanging out by the grill with an adult beverage (or not) while your kids are busy enjoying themselves in the backyard.

Have a great week!