Fun on the Farm

It's been a while since I posted about our Fridays on the farm- with the summer in full swing, a camping trip and a broken computer I got a little out of touch but this week was just too awesome not to post a bit about. First of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Red Hill Farm! As soon as we get to the farm I find I don't think of anything but the present moment- 'be here now' is something I have to remind myself and my husband of frequently, but not at the farm. It just eases away all of the other stuff that life throws at us and makes us appreciate where we are and what we have in our lives.

The produce we get is fresh picked the morning of pick up and I absolutely love going out into the field to pick our flowers (I have had a steady supply of fresh flowers all summer!), green beans, fresh herbs, cherry tomatoes, husk cherries, tomatillos and blackberries. I usually have Colt on my back while we pick the fields and he loves sampling everything which also brings me simple pleasure. Canon is almost always at the sandbox in the childrens garden- he runs there as soon as we get to the farm. Our shares lately have included; tomatoes, melon, rainbow chard, eggplant, zucchini, patty pans, carrots, celery, cucumbers, beets, garlic, onions.... yum!!!
There have been a couple of social events at the farm- a movie, a "happy hour" and last night was supposed to be another movie night (it got rained out- it will happen next weekend). I really love our farmers too- Angela is so genuinely friendly and always smiling. The farm is overwhelmed with tomatoes- they have been giving us HUGE amounts in our shares and even donating to local food bank as well as keeping the convent supplied and are still struggling to keep up so they are removing a row. Last night all share holders were welcomed to come reap the row before it is removed. I think that it was one of the most fun experiences of the summer! It was warm, raining, muddy and absolutely a blast! With Colt on my back, Canon, Jeff and I all walked the row and searched for our tomatoes- so much fun! We went back for two rounds as a family, taking our full bags back to the car, stacking the tomatoes in the trunk and returning to the field. As some ominous clouds rolled over promising a major storm we decided to take the boys back to the car and as I was having so much fun I ran back to the field alone and filled one last bag.
What are we going to do with the mountains of tomatoes? Well, Jeff had already made two batches of tomato sauce with the regular Friday pick up and last night made a batch of ketchup. I eat tomato sandwiches daily and am looking forward to fried green tomatoes. We are going to start canning our ketchup and sauce to last us through the winter- and let me tell you- Jeff makes the BEST tomato sauce I have ever tasted!!