This Week's Notes 7/17...

    

     This week some of our winter plans come true, as Stillman's Farms new  USDA facility is approved for Smoked & Prepared Meats and they are ready to distribute! When we met with them, we got some samples which is part of why I am so excited, I know you will enjoy these farm raised products that come in many flavors and seasonal ingredients! This week we start with Meatballs, Pork & Poultry Sausages, Kielbasa Hotdogs and Smoked Bacon. Full size Kielbasa is in the works and Seasonal Flavor Meat Pies are still waiting approval. I'm also excited, since logistically, this pickup helps us with our route, which has been suffering for some time. 

    My stop to shop for Farmstand Favorites at Overlook Farm gave me the opportunity to see Mark & Leeanne which is always a pleasure. They are excited to have us back and reserving us 5 dozen ears of corn a week this season. They are the only farm with Lettuce right now, and let me tell you, these heads are beautiful! Dr.Ledoux ( who is also our farms vet) is confident they will have alot of broccoli for us next week, though other items are too touchy to list, with the lack of rain. Items I found yesterday were corn, large tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, blueberries, plums, cauliflower, broccoli and carrots.

    Here on the home front, our beans are coming in. I put up 3 half pounds today, but will be adding more over the weekend as I get a grasp on how may there are. Our compost has made Jurassic Park size bean plants, which is great, but sometimes leads to less fruit initially, though I see tons of flowers so they may just be waiting for some rain. It looks like we are going to be loaded with Romas & Pickling Cukes too, though they aren't ready yet, I'm hoping they come just in time to fill the gap when the hoop tunnel growers start to wane.

    Last week, our new Meal Kits had a good start, with 4 Salad Kits, 1 Coleslaw Kit & 1 Blt Kit. This morning at packing I can wade through what this looks like going forward so both Brian & I can pack them easily. Once I have a full week of experience, I can start creating more of these, but this week, I stuck with the same packages to get the practice. I also haven't tried to use Chat Gpt to help me program Excel yet and did it all the ordering by hand, so I need to work all that out too!

   Our farms need rain, so please cross your fingers for tomorrow- nothing beats a good soak from the sky!