This is Shadowbeast, our excellent farm cat and mythical creature and fuzzy farming companion all in one:

Dear Universe,

It's Allyson, Mustard Seed farmie and Shadowbeast lover! This is a sweet, little note from me to all of you to share the joys of summer, which is coming on fast. Out at the farm, we've dusted off the rocket stove and sun oven for cooking - both are great alternatives to using gas or electricity for cooking! Because of the sun, we are now able to hand wash and sun dry our clothes! Since the flush of growth of wild things out here, I have also been able to harvest a lot of plants normally termed "weeds" (dandelions, stinging nettle, wild chamomile) and dry them to use medicinally and in teas (an informational blog post about this coming soon). Here are some pictures to show you what I'm talking about! Come out to the farm sometime to see it all in the third dimension!

This is our rocket stove:

This is the sun oven, baking a cinnamon cake:

This is Nate preparing food to be cooked by the aforementioned appropriate technologies:

This is our line of hand washed clothes (beautiful!!!):

This is Alice at farmer's market (we're there for the next two weeks; come see us!):

Here are some of the prairie plants we're selling at the Farmer's Market:

Here is some stinging nettle drying out to be used for tea (it is so full of things that are good for your body!):

And finally, this is a box of veggies from our first week of CSA (community supported agriculture) deliveries (we are now in the third week of deliveries!):

In other news, we are hosting a potluck and roundtable discussion this Sunday (June 10th) out at the farm, 4:30pm-6:30pm, on the topic of sustainability. June 30th, we are hosting a Big Party out at the farm, 5pm-8pm, to celebrate the farm's 10 Year Anniversary! Hope to see you out here soon, and thanks for being You!

Love,
Allyson