from weather.gov, their graphical forecast

this is alice, with only a few minutes to write - i'll write more about this soon. we just sent in some air and water samples from our farm to learn more about pesticide drift. this picture is from june - you can see our air sampler and the herbicide sprayer in action. we're doing a pretty cool data collection project with Pesticide Action Network and Practical Farmers of Iowa.

Farm Update
Potlucks
Workdays

this is an email that nicholas wrote, with edits and additions from alice.

Farm Update
The farm continues to exist. Though we've gotten a bit of rain, it is still pretty dry. (alice heard a rumor that iowa is officially in a drought - not sure if this is true, but it's really dry. )We've just started harvesting our green beans this morning and our peas have finished. Our garlic is drying and we've started harvesting onions and other things.

Potlucks

In this newsletter:

Farm Update

Potlucks and Soccer

Workdays (Garlic Harvest)

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Above are some nest that have formed this year. At left is the tail feathers of a barn swallow sticking out of their nest, in which the eggs are yet to hatch, at center is the nest of some robins that tried to nest in our tool lean-too, but we were able to move their nest, along with the hoe it was on into a nearby mulberry tree, and 2 of 3 eggs have hatched, and at right is the nest of a goose, in the hollow of an oak branch that was downed a few years ago. The goose picture is the oldest, the nest has now been abandoned, and we think a hawk or fox killed either the parents or just the babies.
After that is some of workcrew from our workday on saturday.

I forgot to take a picture of the first CSA box, which was a bit more substantial, but here's one of last Friday's:

I was trying to do an entirely picture recipe, but I forgot to take pictures. So the recipe is 1/2 pound garlic scapes, 1/4 to 1/2 pound kale pictured at right), 2/3 cup oil, 1 1/3 cup walnuts, 1 teaspoon salt, and two hot peppers. Then blend or food process or whatever. It tastes good on it's own, or on bread or pizza or pasta or something.

Potluck Schedule
Pesticide Monitoring Field Day
Farm Update