Due to the drought, and especially the hot weather of late, here's the longest newsletter I've ever written.

For those of you who are new or aren't already aware of it, I'm Chris, the farmer, and I write the newsletters (unless I'm lucky enough to be in the mountains backpacking as I was last week). Two weeks ago, before I left, I had written a newsletter that Robin found necessary to edit quite a lot, as she felt it was too negative/ apologetic/excusatory. Over time, we've heard comments like that from some CSA members.

To be sure, I don't like hearing farmers complain or blame all their problems on conditions and the weather. Nor do I like getting on the 'global warming' bandwagon, crying about all the terrible things that are 'happening to us', and that are somebody's fault. I don't feel that weather 'happens to us', or is 'imposed upon us', but rather that we're super lucky to be alive on this cool planet, and that we're not necessarily entitled to any particular conditions. The earth has seen, and will see, far more extreme conditions than we're experiencing now, so we might as well get used to it.

That said, we've put more work into more crops that have yielded less than any year I've farmed. Several crops that have seen no rain, and that we've irrigated for eight weeks straight, wound up being unharvestable, and were tilled in (5,000 broccoli plants that covered 1/6 acre, 2,000 row feet of green beans, two separate zucchini plantings, one of which yielded 25% of normal; the other nothing). The lettuce in the box this week came from a planting that normally would have lasted a few weeks and supplied hundreds, even a thousand, pounds of lettuce. We got about 200 pounds.

Bottom line is that we work as hard, or harder, than any farm I've seen, anywhere, ever. That includes dozens of farms in the U.S., and a few in Europe. Of course it's frustrating to expend extra effort in extra hot weather, and have little or nothing to show for it. This is especially the case when we've made the commitment to grow food for people who've already given us money! If I seem a little harsh right now, I feel like I've accurately portrayed the picture here. Kurt, the farm manager, hasn't had a day off in a few months (he'll get a few days later this week), trying to make sure everything gets enough water, and that there's enough food and value in the boxes. He's done a great job in his first full year here at the farm.

Though the delivered value has occasionally been less than the projected value, the average value over the year has been only pennies under what we promised. This week's value is above the projected average, and tomatoes are coming on like crazy now, so we're optimistic that we're past the most difficult part of the season. We still fully plan on a year with at least promised value delivered.

A few of the best and most professional CSA's around us, which have been around for years, are skipping a week due to a lack of crops. Rather than take a week off, we've got a great box this week, the highlight being a rare crop we never planned on: purslane. Normally a delicious weed that only our crew members eat, purslane is a succulent green that thrives in hot, dry weather. Realizing this, Kurt got the bright idea to harvest it while 'weeding' it. He got no more than a few words out of his mouth to ask if it was okay to put it in the box before I shouted 'yes!, do it!' (purslane is one of my favorite greens--kind of like a thick, succulent lettuce). We had a great garlic and white onion crop this year, so more of that this week. Basil likes it hot, so we'll have a good supply this week and looking forward. The last of the spring/early summer carrots, as well as the extra young/small lettuce we salvaged before it perished in the heat, are in the box as well. Eggplant likes hot weather so we expected a little more than we've been able to harvest, but luckily sweet peppers are earlier than normal and doing well, so you'll see one or the other. And last but not least, tomatoes of all types are coming on strong now, so everyone will see round slicing types and some small-fruited varieties--Juliets and/or Sungolds. We're relieved to have a great big box this week.

Looking ahead, things feel a lot better. Because the heat is very hard on greenhouse tomatoes, and dryness is terrible for fungal disease proliferation, our outdoor tomatoes are doing better than the hoop house tomatoes for the first time in my 20 years of farming. All of the peppers look fantastic, as they set fruit and generally perform better in dry weather. Our fall plantings are well under way, and we have lots going in the ground now through August--everything from lettuce to broccoli to cabbage. And the best news is the weather outlook, which is calling for highs in the low 80's by the end of the week. Only a few more 90's before then.

The National Weather Service has upgraded the drought condition from moderate to severe, and now extreme. We got an inch of rain last week (normally good for a week) and still had to irrigate the next day! It's actually a lot like growing in California--hot and dry and lots of irrigation--except we've been extra hot. We're learning a lot about farming in extreme conditions and will be even better for it in the years to come. Thanks for your patience, and look forward to a great fall with extra value in many boxes. Nothing stays the same forever, and we expect a good finish to a rough season.