A Weekly Update from Wayward Haven Farm
Notes from the Haven is a journal of what’s been happening around the farm and the work we’re doing to live well. As always, we welcome your comments, questions, or suggestions. You can find previous updates here, and you can follow the weekly reflections on living well over at From the Hermit’s Porch.
You can also sign up for the Notes to greet you in your inbox here. We shoot to get them out on Wednesdays, but sometimes the farm work takes precedence and it can be a day or two later.
This week’s From the Hermit’s Porch post: Standing in the Truth of Our Needs
Our needs don’t vanish when we silence them; they simply wait for us to become steady enough to hear them. In a world that keeps us bracing, regulation becomes the doorway back to ourselves. Only when the body settles can the self step forward, not in apology or fear, but in authorship — naming what it needs as an ordinary act of being human.
Summer is in full swing now, and the pace of work reflects it. The vegetables are coming in steadily, and we’re entering the stretch of the season where harvesting and putting food up becomes a daily task. My grandmother never said “can”—she always said “put up,” as in, “We need to put up some apple butter.” That phrasing still feels right for this time of year.
As the brassicas go to seed, we’re watching the ecosystem as the white cabbage butterflies move in and the birds along with them. The birds sit on the fence and swoop down to catch a butterfly and fly to other side. They do this all day and yet the butterflies are still plentiful, if destructive. We planted and harvested brassicas early and avoided their egg-laying season, for the most part.
What’s Coming Out of the Garden
This morning’s harvest included the largest tomato haul so far, cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, cushaw, and the first neck pumpkin. It’s a little early for the pumpkins, but neck pumpkins are meaty variety that make excellent soups and other goodies. Jo roasted a cushaw yesterday afternoon and we ate half of it for dinner. If you haven’t seen or heard of cushaw before, they can grow very large – sometimes 10 pounds or more. They have a much lighter flavor than most other squash and some people prefer them to pumpkins for pie-making.
The wild blackberries on our east hill are ripe, and we started picking them. The first batch made it into blackberry jam made with stevia. It’s a less sweet and little more naturally bitter than the stuff you buy in the store, but that’s to be expected since we try to minimize our use of processed sugar (for health reasons). The next batch might make it into a cobbler. We’ll freeze some for winter.
The herb garden is doing well, too. We harvested a lot of chamomile flowers, sage, stevia, Italian and Greek oregano, rosemary, and the first black-eyed Susan blooms for a small jar on the table. Basil, parsley, and various mints are also ready for another cutting to be dried for teas and flavorings.
Preparing for the Heat Ahead
It looks like we’ll see the first temperatures in the nineties next week. We’re harvesting early in the morning, which is better for the vegetables freshness and longevity anyway. Hot temperatures tends to slow down plant growth and we’ll likely need to water if it doesn’t rain enough, which is likely for this time of year. It’s hard to believe we’re already half-way through the year – 6 months to the Yuletide season!
Community Visits and What’s Next
We had several visitors to the farm during our summer gathering. It was good to catch up with a few neighbors we hadn’t seen in a while and meet a few new ones who say the sign at the end of the road. Our next opening is our mid-summer gathering, July 30 to August 2. We’ll keep you posted on what we’ll offer as we get closer. We’ll also post special opening times on our Facebook page and offer specials on produce. Of course, you can always call us anytime and let us know you’d like to come by. We’re always happy to see you.