We got a double batch of the Elderberry jelly made yesterday and then went out to dig sweet potatoes. Boy were we nicely surprised! They did a lot better than we had thought they would what with the pesky deer keeping the vines trimmed up early on. We dug two 5 gallon buckets so far, so you will have sweet potatoes in your boxes tomorrow. Plus I'm baking again for the boxes today. You will be getting applesauce bread.

This past week has been the usual for chores and work. This cooler wet weather has slowed down the tomatoes and okra. There are still quite a few peppers out there, but they need warm sunny weather to turn red. We have been working on making tomato jalapeno jam and we are finishing up that today. We picked some more elderberries and may try getting some of those worked up and make a couple batches of jam this afternoon. The rye that Greg sowed in the hoop houses has sprouted so he's been watering that. We need to dig on the sweet potatoes, so may work on that this afternoon if it isn't too muddy!!!

Today is box day. The full shares will be receiving apples, eggs, peaches, okra, eggplant, peppers, onions, leeks and herbs. The half shares will be getting eggs, apples, eggplant, peppers, onions, cucumber and a leek. Hopefully it won't rain during delivery!

The last two nights Greg has mowed the weeds down in the two hoop houses that we had spring greens in and tilled them up and sowed rye for a green manure cover crop.

Friday was picking day for market. Greg mowed between the rows and knocked down a lot of weeds while I picked. Things are slowing down, the okra is pretty much done. After we were finished picking we cut up peppers and put in the dehydrator. Our daughter came home for the weekend, so she fixed dinner while we finished up loading the trucks. She went to market for us in Fulton, she wanted some spending money!

Market Saturday was lousy in both Columbia and Fulton locations. It starts cooling off and people quit coming to market. I don't know if they think that there's nothing left or are just tired of the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and zucchini?! But the Fall stuff is coming in. There are the winter squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and some of the Spring things are again available in the Fall. So keep coming out to market!!!

Greg's brother-in-law commissioned me to make some corn cob jelly, tomato jalapeno jam and persimmon jam for his store that he and Greg's sister own in Glasgow, Missouri. They sell Missouri made art and crafts and Missouri made food products. It's called the Riverport Market. If you're ever in Glasgow check it out!

Yesterday was errand day and catch up day, but I didn't get any house work done or the lawn mowed, which needs it badly!!!! I worked on getting a trailer load of hay to a guy in Millersburg and he wanted some veggies. That pretty much took all morning. I had to air the tire up on the trailer, get it hooked up and to the barn under the hay mound door, which took several times of backing, which I can not do!!! So I never got it as close to the door as I wanted, so when I went to throw out the hay some of it missed the trailer! And the hay is 20 years old so all the twine on the bales was rotten and broke! But I finally got it all in the trailer and tramped down and the tarp put on and delievered!

By the time I got home it was noon so I got cleaned up (again) and went back to town to go to the bank and grocery store, back home to put groceries away.

Our little dog Sassy had a vet appointment at 2:15p.m. so I loaded her up to go back to town and while I was putting her in the van Shadow our big black dog decided he wanted to go and jumped in too! I could not get him out as he laid down and when he thinks you're mad at him he will not do anything you tell him to do! At the moment he's one big massive cockle bur as he's been out back chasing rabbits, so I didn't want to try to pick him up, so he rode to town with us!

After the vet visit I then had to go out to the feed store to get dog food, water softener salt, and a bag of oats. Get home and unload everything and put it away, by then it's about 3:40p.m. I still haven't cleaned yesterdays eggs and put them away, so I worked on that. Greg gets home at 4:00p.m and asks have you checked the tomatoes in the dehydrator? Shoot!!!! We look at them and most of them are now black!

Greg worked on spraying the tomatoes in the hoop house. They still have lots of little green tomatoes, so we are hoping there will be tomatoes late. Today is baking day, so I'd better hop to it. Maybe later I can get the yard mowed?!

We got all the strawberries planted!!!!!! YEAH! Today is box day. This is week 21, so after today there will be 4 weeks left, and things are petering down. We need a little rain to get the greens and radishes we planted going, most have sprouted but now need moisture. Today you will be getting apples, tomatoes, eggs, potatoes, onions, eggplant, cucumbers, summer squash and peppers. The full shares will also get a little bit of green beans and okra.

Well market Saturday was not good! This year I think more people are growing their own stuff, plus there are more vendors with produce this year at the market, so competition is stiff! That's where it's important to find a special niche that no one else is doing and work on that. It may not be as profitable as some, but then that's where you have to be diversified on top of everything else! We've been drying tomatoes, and I need to work on putting soup mixes together like I usually do for the fall, but my big enemy is TIME!!! Oh, well if I could bottle "TIME" and sell it I'd be rich, as no one has enough TIME! After market on Saturday we started planting strawberries, got one bed done. Then Sunday we worked all day and got four more done, so now we just have one bed left to do and Greg hopes to get that done tonight! YEAH!