Greetings!

We hope you all enjoyed last week's sweet corn and potatoes because we sure did!

We're currently working to resolve internet connection problems with our service provider, so apologies for being late with the news letter. You can always reach us by telephone with questions if we don't seem to be responding via email.

In this week's market bag:

• Mars slip skin grapes
• 1 pint "sweet olive" grape tomatoes
• 1 1/2 lbs. "sungold" and "gold nugget" cherry tomatoes
• Brandywine heirloom slicing tomato
• Green Zebra specialty tomato
• 1 lb mixed beans
• Costata zucchini
• yellow squash
• Diva slicing cucumber/ Boston pickling cucumbers
• bulb softneck garlic
• "bright lights" swiss chard
• rosemary
• dill
• basil
• thyme
• tarragon
• green onion

Business:

We're getting ready to order our fall round of broilers. If you'd like more than just one or two for the winter, please email to reserve them now, so we know how many to order.

Reserve Thanksgiving turkeys now—they're going fast! Organic, free-range turkey will be available for $7.00/ lb the week before Thanksgiving, dressing out between 10-12 lbs. likely. A non-refundable $20 deposit will reserve the turkey and be applied to the final purchase price. We will be opening sales to non-members by September 1st.

News:

It's official: the US Drought Monitor has updated us to severe drought status. We did, however, finally get some rain this last week—1/8" on Friday and a 1/2" on Saturday. So, keep on raindancing; it really seems to help.

Although I accidentally told some of you they were Canadice, our other variety, the grapes in your share bags this week are Mars grapes, a seedless, slipskin variety of grape, which means that the skins peel off relatively easily. Though a bit sour, the skins themselves are loaded with phytonutrients that help protect against heart disease and may also fight cancer, so there's certainly no need to peel them before eating!

Happenings:

We're looking forward to Old Time Tennessee muskmelons in the next few weeks. They're nice and big and continuing to set and grow fruit—we're just waiting for them to ripen. Butternut squash, too, are coming along nicely, soaking in the sun and turning a rich golden butter color.

As August heats up, we're heading into full fall planting mode, starting seeds both inside and out so they'll be ready to set in the beds once the tomatoes and other summer crops give way to cooler fall temperatures. Lettuces are finally beginning to sprout, and we'll continue planting well into September. I, for one, can't wait to have greens again!

Pitch In!

We're still collecting sheer curtains for row covers, so if you have any to donate, they're much appreciated

Don't forget, we recycle used pulp egg cartons, so please return them rather than throwing them away. While Maryland law doesn't allow us to reuse egg cartons for our eggs, we can use them for making homemade paper. Thanks to all who've brought theirs in!

Happy Eating!

Danielle at Touch the Earth Farm