Farm Friday

One of my first zinnias

Despite good intentions, I wasn't able to manage posting a "Farm Friday" last week. I has been one of those months, with one thing after another, so I'm including a few things from the last two weeks:

• Dried plantain leaves in dehydrator - for chickens in the winter and for herbal concoctions
• Had my faithful SUV in the shop (a first for serious mechanical problems after over 12 years/218,000 miles)
• Made a big batch of broccoli soup
• Made beet chips - yummy!
• Pulled weeds in the winter squash garden - it was perfect right after a good rain because the crab grass came up without a problem
• Added plants to one of the raised beds - pots of perennials (salad burnet and lovage) and annuals (basil) that I grew from seed
• Planted in front of the farmhouse the ornamental (and edible) mini-pepper plants that I grew from seed.
• Started trading with another vendor after the Saturday market ends. We exchange what didn't sell:  She gets fresh veggies for her family; I get fresh bread. This works out great for us - and I hope for her.
• Had a great Piedmont Sustainable Living gathering. The topic was to share your favorite homesteading/sustainability tool. We had great food and everyone left having learned something new.
• Cleaned and prepped the farmhouse for guests which led to a cancellation because...
• Our well at the farmhouse went out and had to be repaired. Turns out the pump was about 30 years old and lasted about 20 years past the typical pump so we can't complain.
• Connected with a local B&B so that I didn't leave our guests without a place to stay. The inn had a vacancy so I shared the information with them. 
• The motor on our house A/C burned out and had to be replaced. Going without for a couple of days wasn't that big of a deal as we keep our house at 80 degrees in the summer (but with outside temperatures in the 90s, that feels relatively cool).
• Summer produce is starting to come in. Right now we have squash and zucchini.
• I've been invited to be one of the managers at a new farmers' market. We will be rearranging our schedule as a result but I'm excited about the potential of the new venue. A couple of local organizations are supporting it and it will be a chemical-free market - yay! 
• I spied a new book at the library and, after reading the introduction, know I'm going to love it. It's particularly timely as the "big boys" (i.e. those who have money and power) are whining about how the "organic" farmers (i.e. the small chemical-free farms that are just trying to make a living) in our part of the state aren't playing nice and are sharing information about damaging chemicals in our food and how the food system is broken (life is so unfair to them...):
  
• The best news is that I finished our farm cookbook and it's available for purchase on Amazon (I'll be putting out a Kindle version soon). This was started as a winter project and didn't really have a set deadline for finishing it. Since we'll be speaking at an event in July, I pushed forward with it and we'll have copies available a the event. Here's the cover:

Have a great week!