Dear Friends and Family,

Last Thursday was a banner day for us. The farm crew with the help of good friend (and high tunnel expert) Paul Wiediger got the double layer of plastic on our quonset-style high tunnel. He arrived around noon, just before I left for the Glasgow market. When I got back, a bit before 6pm, the job was complete except for some final work to secure the plastic around the doorways. I was amazed that the plastic cover makes the building look smaller. Somehow I thought it would probably have the opposite effect.

The project has certainly been looming so large in our minds for a long time. The "kit" was delivered over 3 years ago. Quite an impressive pile of steel tubing, straight and curved in a variety of lengths. (Plastic covering came separately). It got dropped here near my barn. I'd been mowing around it until last Fall when interns Daniel and Johanna helped with the erection of the arched steel trusses. That Spring the site for the tunnel had been expertly levelled by bulldozer. In the following weeks Paul (Bela) had laid out the footprint, manured and lime-ed the interior soil, then sowed buckwheat. This Spring interns Jenny and Laura helped construct the wood framing for the end walls. Later they assisted friend and expert Dennis Curry in spreading/levelling concrete for the loading dock and doorways. That is not to mention all the days of work installing anchor board for the trusses plus the construction of adequate forms to hold wet concrete for doorways (6' x 30') and a loading dock (30" x 30" x 10'). A couple of years ago we learned what happens when the form is not strong enough. The puddled remains of that concrete form an irregular circle near my barn. All in all our high tunnel is yet another example of the "community" it takes to get these huge infrastructure projects done on a family-size farm.

Paul and Alison Wiediger have also been seeding transplants to go into the high tunnel by mid-September. The plan is to have Fall greens: kale, collards, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, lettuces, ready for market when farm family returns from John and Denise' wedding in October. Also in the next few weeks our 3 huge pigs will go to processing and be marketed through the CSA. All this to simplify the chore list for interns and possibly, neighbor Bernadette, while we are gone.

Blue Bell is now residing happily with our neighbor Ricky and his family. As Ricky tells it, he's been wanting to "steal" her since he first laid eyes on our lovely Jersey cow. He rejoiced with us when Addie was born to her a couple of years ago. This May he stopped by to admire Junior, her male calf. When he learned of our need to let go of one of our cows he offered to buy Blue Bell. We had some concern for Junior. Addie has always been quite aggressive toward him so we were afraid her calf would continue to suck while poor old Junior got left motherless. Not so. Junior figured out that if he got on Addie right behind her own calf she had no recourse but to let him suck. So he and Addie's calf will be weaned together. He will stay with us for another year or so until he gains processing weight. Addie's calf will be sold when she is fully weaned. It is hard to let go of our animals but the limitations of our available pasture make that a necessity. I recently heard the story of a family that wanted to have their own milk cow but had to give it up after a couple of seasons because they couldn't stand the annual need to sell off a calf. I had no trouble understanding their plight. More and more I have come to have enormous respect for the discipline of sustainable farm practice.

Our share baskets are heavy with squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, and just last week, edamame (edible soy bean). The farm crew have been picking apples each Thursday from a neighbor's orchard. Paul planted some new varieties of flowers in the Spring so our bouquets now include zinnias, sunflowers, various amaranths (deep purple, red, biscuit brown), celosias (pale yellow, orange, red), purple, white and pink asters, bells-of-Ireland, Thai basil, coreopsis, and now vivdly purple ironweed. Last week at market I helped two women from the hospital select flowers to arrange for a reception there. That was great fun. The weather is cool, dry, sunny. Makes me keep thinking of that wedding coming up in California. Love, Louise