In the share this week: 1 lb mixed slicer tomatoes 1 pint saladette or cherry tomatoes 1 lb red onions 1 lb green beans 1 head summer crisp or red leaf lettuce 4 pickling cucumbers or 2 slicer cucumbers 1 bag rainbow carrots Thoughts from Farmer Anna: My thoughts have been distracted away from farm concerns lately as we ponder over school decisions for our kids this fall. This is such a difficult situation for so many families and there are really no 'good' options. Our kids attend the local public school and this was to be the only year that all three of them would be at the same elementary school together. We haven't made our final decision on schooling, but are leaning toward keeping them all home and doing the virtual at-your-own pace option that is being offered by the Kenton County School District. Even thought I work from home here on the farm and am somewhat flexible, I worry about trying to balance my farm responsibilities with supporting the kids' schooling and social needs (not to mention the mental health needs of the entire family!). It is going to be a unique year for sure, and we will what we can to make the best of it. If you have school-aged kids and are struggling with these issues, I wanted to let you know that I created a facebook group for families that are looking to find other families with similar aged children to share some childcare and schooling responsibilites. It's called 'NKY School Pandemic Pods' and you can find it via this link here: ( www.facebook.com/groups/218489272707470/) . Please feel free to share the group among others who may be interested. We are hoping to get critical mass so that we can help families find some workable solutions! Alrighty, on to some veggie things. We are deep into harvesting lots of summer crops. I can hardly believe it's the end of July already! We have more rainbow carrots this week, although they are unbunched since the tops are starting to get weak and diseased. Late July is definitely the time when we see the pest and disease pressure really start to creep up on the farm. We have figured out some ways to keep certain pests at bay (early scouting and squishing along with row cover on some crops to exclude pests), but the fungal diseases of late summer can be harder to control. In some ways, this are looking really good since we've had a fairly dry summer so far. The humidity never really seems to drop though, and that creates nice conditions for fungal spores. Anyway, I've come to terms with the seasonal disease pressure now that I know what and when to expect it. The nice thing about growing a diverse array of crops is that something will always be growing and doing well despite the weather conditions!
