High summer vegetables are here in abundance! The tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and summer herbs are delighting in the long light, and the fall crops are seeded and getting in the ground. Our farm store is open for orders, now until Tuesday evening, for pickup this Thursday 7/30. In addition to the juicy tomatoes and peppers of high summer, we’re slinging some crisp carrots, fragrant herbs, sweet onions, flowers and more from our fields. Lots of beautiful veg from John Paul’s Farm and Coldco Farm as well as pork from Blackberry Meadows, eggs from Pittsburgh Pastures, and new this week: chicken from Mother Earth Farm! Order online weekly between Saturday and Tuesday for Thursday pickup at any of our FOUR pickup locations: Jackworth Gingerbeer (Larimer), Hitchhiker Brewing (Sharpsburg), Allegheny City Brewing (Northside), and now Bantha Tea Bar (Garfield, 4-7pm, staring this Thursday)!

We heard your feedback that some of our beloved Bloomfield customers wanted a pickup location closer to Bloomfield, so we talked to the good folks at Bantha Tea Bar to make that happen. We’re always working on making our systems more sustainable and accessible, for us and for you, and we’re curious to hear from you about how this farm store model is working for you! Whether you’ve yet ordered from our farm store or are interested in ordering in future weeks, please fill out this survey to give us your input. We’ve been approved to accept EBT payments through our GrownBy farm store, though are waiting on a few more forms to get the processing set up on the site. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for that update!

After the truly wild weather waves of the first three weeks of July, we finally took a beat to reset and tend to some field maintenance that was difficult to keep up with in the heat waves and smoky air. We’re grateful for the respite of some cooler temperatures this week, though it does feel a bit baffling. It was 97F this time last week and it got down into the 40s last night. Big weather swings make more unpredictable ecological patterns.

This time of year is always a challenging one, when the last of the spring crops, the peak of the summer crops, and the beginning of the fall crops all converge at a time when the weeds and the pests are also sprinting along with everything else. With temperatures near 100F (with 70%+ humidity) and dangerous air quality on top of it all, we’re a bit tired from the past several weeks! I’m grateful to do this work with a team committed to adaptability, and we continue to change with the unique and unprecedented challenges season to season. Change is inherent to agriculture, and we’re doing our best to meet the risks of trying new things with hope instead of fear. If I’m being honest, the optimism wavers when it feels like not enough people recognize the precarious reality of our climate and food systems. The more people participate in stewarding our home ecologies & tending local resources with care, the less daunting things feel.

We always appreciate your support, especially in difficult times. If you’ve ordered from us already this season, thank you. If you haven’t, now is a great time to start. If you know someone who could really use this kind of local produce supply, please share it with them. This farm grows on through the webs of community that surround it. We miss seeing you when you buy your veg, and we’re back with our monthly Bloomfield Market pop-ups soon! Mark your calendar to visit us at the Bloomfield Saturday Market on August 8th and 29th, September 12th, October 10th, and November 21st!

Hope you’re savoring some of the summer abundance amidst the challenges. See yous soon.

High Summer Updates: New Pick-up Location and Chicken in the Farm Store