July News

The carnival that is summer on the farm has arrived. All of us are in top gear: weeding strawberries while the peas ripen; picking peas while the weeds grow around our ankles. The daily excitement of new crops to taste, new chickens to feed, and new seeds to sow makes this the best job in the world. There is an endless amount to learn from watching a farm navigate the pace of seasons. We are, all of us here on the farm, having the time of our lives.

And yet in the midst of the tilt-a-whirl of summer, winter in New England is always at our heels. We are filling the barn with straw for strawberry mulching, building cold frames for winter food production, and designing a root cellar to preserve potatoes and onions. The bees are good teachers, and as we watch them filling their honey boxes, we are reminded that with all its frenzy and fun, summer is fleeting. So here is the news:

1. PICK YOUR OWN BLUEBERRY SEASON IS OPEN. We have been blessed with another delicious blueberry crop and so we are inviting everyone to enjoy the harvest. The blueberry patch will be open daily from 10 to 6. Please walk in along the road and follow signs to the netted patch.

2. THE STAND IS OPEN. Our roadside table will be filled with each day’s harvest and will be open from 10:30 to 6. The recent press about the farm (see the farm website for links to the articles) has meant that the visitors to the Stand have increased and we are trying to keep up with demand, but it has been a challenge. As our harvest increases in July, we w will not run out as quickly, but please be patient and arrive early!

3. THANK YOU to all our amazing volunteers who have come to help us weed, compost, fix tractors, harvest strawberries, feed chickens, build coolers, mend fences… I could go on and on. We are so thankful that we are farming in this community where so many neighbors and friends help us chip away at our bottomless to-do list. If you would like to volunteer, please send an email to info@thehickories.org drop by the farm, or visit the volunteer messageboard on the website.

4. FARM WEBSITE: If you are not registered as a farm member of the website, please do so by logging in at www.thehickories.org. The free membership is simply a way for us to keep you informed about the goings-on at The Hickories, but our members are also turning it into a great place to share recipes, barter farm stuff, and trade ideas about agriculture!

All the best,

Dina Brewster