Not in July

Small Shares

• Slicing Tomatoes
• Juliet Plum Tomatoes
• Yellow Squash
• Eggplant
• Sweet Peppers

Full Shares

• Slicing Tomatoes
• Green Zebra Tomatoes (Farmer Randy’s favorite!)
• Yellow Squash
• Zucchini
• Eggplant
• Sweet Peppers

July messes with you.  It’s an important month.  Tomato season is a big deal for us.  We are also getting ready for fall planing, trying to keep things watered and sort-of weeded.  There is a lot going on.  And it’s real hot out here, folks.  We work as much as we can in the morning and try to get everyone out of the field by 11 am.  There’s been a lot of sweat.  There have been some tears (and not only mine!).  No blood, though.  We try to avoid blood, what with handling food and all that.  You have to psyche yourself up for July.  “Yeah, I’m awesome!  It’s 95 degrees in the shade!  I’m so tough!  I can handle it!”  But sometimes I like to fantasize about doing something, anything, other than farming.  Here is a representative imaginary conversation with myself:

Me: Why did I decide to be a farmer?  This is hard.  I could make more money doing something way easier.

Also Me: You’d get bored.  You’d hate it.  This is what you need to be doing.

Me: But I’d get to go to the lake.  I see all the people on Facebook going to the lake or the mountains or doing literally anything fun.

Also Me:  That’s because they spend their work week indoors.  They might go to the lake on the weekend but you get to be outdoors all the time.

Me:  But it’s hot.  It’s hot and it’s awful.  Why can’t I work in air conditioning?

Also Me: You love working outdoors.  It is one of your favorite things about farming.

Me: Not in July!

Also Me: No, not in July.  But you are doing something fulfilling that you love.

Me: But it’s HARD.

Also Me: Yup.

And that’s the news from the farm!  We are just trying to hold on here.  I’ll be back with something more profound when we reach the other side of this summer heat.