“On the Precipice of Hope” – from Alexandra

Greetings from the Edge. It’s been another beautiful week. If the precipice of hope looks this bountiful and lush, we’ve got a promising future ahead. Since the first cold days of this season, Tom, Tommy, Morgan and I have been hard at work getting food to your table (and to ours, too). We hope you’ve been enjoying the harvest as much as we have.

We’ve been in the process of getting fall plantings in the ground, the beloved fall kale, broccoli, Chinese cabbage and more. I bet that wet your palate a bit. We did the first irrigation I’ve seen on this farm today for this kale. We’ve never had to irrigate this season, so we had to improvise carrying buckets of water to the beds. At least we didn’t have to haul it up from the pond.

Reports from Tommy say all is good with the cows and sheep. Since I can’t seem to get my butt out of bed at 5, I ask for daily reports. Much to his chagrin, he’s had to separate Araya and the sheep from the herd. Audrey is pregnant and Araya just won’t stop nursing. You’ll see Araya with the yellow spiked thing in her nose. (It’s suppose to keep her from nursing.) With Damiana gone, Darcy has at last quieted down.

I guess I can list all the animals, since I’m the one who remembers their names. In pecking order: Darcy, Kenya, Audrey, and Tulsi are our milking cows (although Tulsi hasn’t calved yet). Araya is too young to calve or milk. New this year are, the no longer present, Damiana and Kava. The sheep are Kale, Parsnip, Cassiopeia, Andromeda and the little lamb with the drooping ear, Passiflora.

Unfortunately, we do have to do some not so glamorous tasks around here, like trying to reduce the percentage of potato beetles. But this task has led to the quote of the week from Farmer Tom: “If we are all one, all made of the same energy, then we are potato beetles. Maybe we’re the potato beetles of the earth.” Munch on that one…

The flowers are abloomin’ so come and pick some! Remember not to touch Tom’s gladiolas. No one wants to be on his black list.

Thanks everyone for your continued support. Ya can’t have “Community Supported Agriculture” without the community!

With Thanks,

Alexandra Pitre, apprentice