The Taste of Summer
Greetings from Nature's Harbor Farm!
It's hard to believe that it is August with this amazing break we are having from the record heat. Feels a lot more like fall but here on the farm it still tastes like summer. To me, that means a fresh picked brandywine tomato, fresh mozarella cheese, fresh basil, a little salt and some olive oil. Its like a little bit of heaven on my plate. I love all the wonderful varieties of heirloom tomatoes but the brandywine is my favorite. It might not be the prettiest looking tomato. It is huge, lumpy, and tends to split. It would never ship well, couldn't be packed neatly into boxes, and would probably be left behind if it made it to a supermarket shelf but to me it is perfect. Summer would lose some of its character if this tomato didn't grow in our garden.
I haven't gotten out a newsletter in awhile partly because we finally took a long awaited family vacation. Its the first one since before our second daughter was born! It is very hard to get away from the farm. Thank goodness I have a great friend who took care of everything while we were gone. Believe me, the animals threw every trick at her too.
We could never take a vacation that wasn't somewhat farming related. We headed into Virginia to the Field Day at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ . This is the Mecca of sustainable farming. Next we stopped at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. We loved the tour of the house and the gardens were just as amazing. They have been painstakingly recreated from Jefferson's notes. He grew over 300 varieties of vegetables! We also managed to eat locally for much of the trip, stopping at farmstands and orchards and purchasing hot dogs and ground beef at Polyface. A cooler and some charcoal and you can eat like a locavore even on vacation. Other fun and educational stops along the way included the beach at Nag's Head, the Jamestown Settlement, and James Madison's Montpelier.
There is a wonderful event happening this Saturday, Aug. 20 in Covington. It is the third annual Farmers' Fair. I have decided to come out of my farmers' market retirement and set up. Farmers' Fair is a great event with a huge farmers' market, great speakers, local restaurants, and booths about sustainable eating and living in the tri-state. I will be selling eggs and answering questions about backyard poultry and beekeeping. Come out and enjoy a great day and say, "Hi." http://www.farmersfair.org/ I look forward to seeing you there.
Finally, to leave you with an amusing image of just how much trouble the animals can get into....
Something you never want to see. A horse's hind end in the door of your chicken coop. That would be Rocky, the 30 year old quarter horse. He might be older than dirt but he has quite the adventurous streak.
Sincerely,
Heather Redden
www.naturesharborfarm.com