Dear Family and Friends,

You've hear it said that timing is everything... Last evening as I was driving back from the A-frame, I saw our flock of sheep coming toward me down the middle of the road. They were just halfway between my upper and lower driveways. When they saw the car they stopped momentarily. I stopped, then started forward slowly, trying to stay as far to the right of our two-lane road as I could, hoping they would head into the lower drive. They did. I followed them in, stopping at the fence line. They went forward a few paces then turned and began coming back toward me. I backed across the opening and got out. I walked slowly toward them, edging to the left to keep them from heading across the yard in front of my house and back out the upper driveway. They headed down the side of my barn and around the back toward the gate to the lower pasture. Then I remembered the gate was closed. I ran inside to grab the phone to alert Paul and Robin at the old place. As I came out the sheep were emerging from behind the barn and moving toward our planted fields. I thought maybe I could just keep them clustered behind the barn until help arrived. I wondered if the back- barn door was open. A few started filing in. I rushed behind them to push them all in and closed the door. Inside the barn is a stall that opens out into the lower pasture. I realized I didn't know if the lower gate was closed, so ran down the pasture to find that gate open. I pulled it shut and secured it. As I was walking back toward the barn Paul and Robin arrived. All in all a fairly simple procedure because I caught them at just the right moment.

Earlier in the week the whole farm crew (family + 6) worked to construct an earth oven at the old place. Under the expert guidance of Neil, Waldorf teacher and friend of the farm, we learned the proper proportions of clay, straw and water, to form cob, the basic material for the oven. I was interested to find a new use for empty beer bottles. The base of the oven is a square formed of cinderblock. The inner side of the block is lined with the beerbottles, an insulating layer. That whole space is then packed with cob to the top of the bottles. Firebricks form the next layer. A mound of sand is added to form the "inside" of the oven. A tube holds space for the chimney. The crew broke into two teams. One to mix cob from prepared materials, then to form it into balls. They toss the balls to the other team, standing around the oven. Their job is to catch the cob balls, smash them onto the base around the sand, punch and press them into layers to form the dome of the oven. Periodically they puncture the mass with a stick to form spaces for new clay to "lock" into the old. I'll never forget the sight of Sasha, on team One, covered in mud from head to toe, happily tossing mud balls to Robin, team Two. With two other team One members tossing baIls to Neil and Mickey at the oven the teams performed a kind of dance. It took a 3 1/2 days to complete the whole process.

Once again timing made the difference. The project started on Monday. In preparation Paul had already cut and set cedar logs to form the support for a roof large enough to shelter oven and future bakers from the rain. What remained to do was the ladder work. Cross beams had to be set and nailed in. That work was finished by Tuesday mid-afternoon. Paul decided to get the roof on that day. Robin make a quick phone call. Tin was available and could be cut to size that afternoon. They picked up the tin and nailed it on that evening just before several downpours that could have dissolved the whole project.

Now the whole thing has to "cure" for a month of so before we fire it up for the first time. We are all looking forward to our own oven-baked pizza and bread.

The timing and abundance of rain has made for a very difficult growing season. Paul says he has had to fight for each row of crop. His whole season's plan for where different vegetables would be planted has constantly had to be altered because the ground in the assigned place could not be worked. Since planting goes on for most of the summer this has been a constant challenge. Then there are the weeds. Many more hours than usual have been spent hoeing and pulling weeds, and even so the beds do not look the way he likes to keep them.

Our share-baskets have been full of summer squashes, beets, onions, cabbage, garlic, green beans, cucumbers, sweet peppers, tomatoes, basil, cilantro, dill. Cash crops include shitaki mushrooms, sunflowers, zinnias, and for Sasha, marigolds for dyeing. Raccoons devastated much of his sweet corn crop but he salvaged enough to freeze 20 quarts or so for next winter's chowder.

We are at that point in our season when interns/apprentices start to leave. Kim and Lisbeth left on Thursday, Fletcher left on Saturday, Laura on Sunday. Jenny broke her foot three weeks ago and, with Robin's support, has gallantly found all kinds of sorting, wiping, counting, cooking, and other jobs that can be done either sitting or else standing on one leg. We are in awe of her resolve. Mickey leaves on Saturday. Then after a week we expect another late-season apprentice.

Hope each of you is enjoying some mid-summer abundance. Love, Louise