Farm News Week 8, 2026

July 22nd, 2026

From Ridge to Rivers

The kids and I went canoeing on the Mississippi this Saturday with some friends of ours. The smoke was a little clearer that day and the weather was gorgeous. Even though my house was a mess, I had no food made for our day-trip, and there are a million projects on the farm that would love my attention, we grabbed a cooler, loaded the canoe and left the farm at 8:15 am. I can never talk farmer Adam into going on these adventures with me in the summertime. He’s too lazer-focused on the farm and he says he wouldn’t be able to relax anyways. I told you all about how hard-working he is in last week’s newsletter!

Truth be told, I’m wired to work just as much as he does. I love moving my body, making the farm and home a beautiful place, and the joys and challenges that have come along with this homesteading-styled life. If it wasn’t for kids to slow me down, I would probably work sunrise to sunset too. Or at least I used to (and still do when when I’m not on mommy duty). I’m in my mid-40’s now and sometimes I get tired. It was me who talked Adam into this life 22 years ago, and even though he’s ten years older than me, he seems to out-do me sometimes. But I’m experiencing a bit of a mid-life crisis where I’m more willing to go on the adventures we always said we couldn’t do in the summertime. Trips with our kids in July to beautiful Wisconsin waterways have always been impossible for us-or so we thought. Still so seldom and rare that we actually go, but such a delightful contrast. Life is short and if we’re not careful, decades can pass by without us making the time do the things we love.

The canoe trail was 7 miles long that ran from Blackhawk Park to Lansing, IA. It was a trail I wouldn’t have attempted with my three kids alone with my limited canoeing experience, but in the trusting guidance of our good friends Mark and Carolyn and their three kids, we made a day of it. The backwaters were slow and easy. We were immersed in nature in a different kind of way than we are on the farm. We were surrounded by lilly pads, silver maples, wapado, and willow. We saw beaver dams, 13 eagles, snakes, turtles, damsel flies, dragon flies, water spiders and fish. It was beautiful to say the least. And something about floating down a river on a canoe traveling at the speed of the Mississippi river’s backwaters diffused current on a Saturday afternoon in July makes a gal feel like life ain’t all that bad.

Coming straight from the farm, I was strikken by the contrast. There is a whole river culture out there. People who think and live and work near the water. Their lifestyle is slower. So very different from my own where life feels full, busy, and not ever an idle moment. I’ve never been good at being slow or at sitting or relaxing. But I do appreciate the experience from time to time-especially in the heart of our growing season when it feels like the vegetable rows expand across the horizon forever and the days are long. I appreciate the people and places who can help teach me to slow down and enjoy life. We came home refreshed on Saturday night ready to start a new week on the farm. Ready to face the heat, the smoke or the sporadic and spontaneous rain clouds that come our way.

What’s in the Box?

Cabbage- One head of green cabbage for all. This is a more tender, summer variety of lettuce this is not necessarily a great storage variety, so go ahead and eat it up.
Cauliflower- 3 heads per member. Cauliflower is especially difficult to grow in the summer and this cauliflower and broccoli this summer was not grown in our best field, so many of them did not size up the way we would like to see. So instead you’re getting smaller cauliflowers this summer. It’s okay, smaller is almost always better in the produce world!
Celery- 1 head of celery per member. Local celery has a much stronger celery flavor than California celery and is darker green. Celery should be stored in a plastic bag in the fridge to preserve moisture. The leaves on the celery plant can certainly be eaten as well. Add the leaves to soup or to your egg salad or potato salad in place of parsley.
Cucumbers- 3-4 cucumbers per member. Our first succession of cucumbers has peaked. We will continue to pick from this patch for awhile and we have a second succession coming on. Cucumbers prefer a 50 degree storage zone.
Zucchini/Summer Squash- 5-6 per memmber. Summer Squash and zucchini LOVE heat and humidity which is exactly what we had last week. So the plants really seemed to crank out squash for you!
Basil- Basil prefers to be handled like cut flowers. In an ideal world, we would cut it for you and place it in a little jar with water, but unfortunately that’s not possible. It is highly perishable and can turn black in refrigerators as it dehydrates as the leaves get bruised. We recommend using it up right away. You can also lay the leaves out on trays and dehydrate it if you don’t think you’ll use it this week.
Lettuce- 1-2 heads of red leaf lettuce per member. Smaller heads. It’s great to still have lettuce in the heat of the summer.
Green Onions- This is the final giving of green onions and next week we will begin giving white onions.
Garlic- Chesnook red is the variety name. Fresh garlic does have a thicker membrane around each clove that has not dried down quite yet to a paper thin membrane.
Next Week’s Best Guess- Celery, carrots, lettuce, kale or chard, onion, cucumbers, summer squash and zucchini, broccoli or cauliflower, basil?