Seems like we've had more rattlesnakes this year than usual ... including a Mojave that Patricia found while picking beans and a tiger rattler that Peter's arm was about ten inches from when he noticed it, while doing yurpee maintenance on his hands and knees. We've also had more than our share of skunk visitors, stealing eggs and digging in the garden, as well as deer browsing in the orchard, a roadrunner who passed through, and a tarantula that wandered into the kitchen.

Our ducks have cleaned the crayfish out of the creek near the house, so now every morning Mama Duck takes her five babies on an expedition up the creek to find more. They leave in the morning and are not seen again until nightfall, when Mama brings her ducklings back in time for supper at home. Laura and David reported seeing them quite a distance up the creek, far past the property line - quite a trek for little baby ducks! We wonder what Campaign Trail hikers think when they come across a family of white ducks in the Superstition Wilderness!

Every Thursday since spring we have been delivering produce to our mini farmers market at Simply Sarah (386 N. Broad) in Globe. Sarah has turned a corner of her clothing shop into a culinary boutique, selling condiments, utensils, dishes, kitchen gadgets, and cookbooks. Sarah often repackages our produce from flats into smaller amounts, and she advertises the produce in the local paper. She has helped us reach many new customers, and RMS's regular Globe customers can now go to Simply Sarah, knowing they will be able to pick up our produce there every Thursday afternoon.

We are very happy to be growing lettuce and bok choy this summer. In the past Bigfoot had not grown summer crops of lettuce and bok choy because of the temperatures, but we have found that if we just give them enough water they perform very well. We are now watering the orchard early in the morning by pumping out of the creek at night, which allows us to fill the tank again before the creek dries up in the afternoon so we can give the garden a good soak in the evening. At the same time, the weeds are growing like crazy, especially now that the daytime temperatures are slightly cooler. Fallow areas of the garden have become amaranth and goosefoot forests - which Peter harvests throughout the day to feed some very grateful ducks.

Bigfoot and Patricia have been on their own this month - Patricia doing the watering, taking care of the birds, cooking and cleaning, and office work, while Bigfoot has his hands full doing everything else. We've enjoyed the quiet and the chance to honeymoon (as a friend calls it) ... but we are excited to have interns lined up from the beginning of September through January. We're looking forward to making new friends, and with a full fall schedule of classes and events, we'll need the help!

For more information (and pictures!) about the farm, Peter Bigfoot's herbal remedies, and classes and events, please visit www.reevismountain.org.

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