Last night the barred owls were hooting “who cooks for yoooouuu?” to the almost full moon. We’ve also been hearing coyotes howling, and our miniature dog will howl with them. It is too funny! The season is changing for sure. Cooler evenings and frost warnings have started. We’re seeing more migratory birds, especially the semi-palmated plovers who are feasting on the riverbank mud shrimp before their big trip to South America.

Here on the farm we are just so relieved to be getting some rain!!! It is needed. It was getting so dry with almost no rain in August. One of the rain events was like a monsoon with tree-breaking wind and 15mm of rain. At least we didn’t get hail like they did in Avondale, close by. We’re hoping for some more rain and we pray the winds aren’t too strong.

I’m so impressed with the people who are working on the farm and at the Warehouse Market. I love seeing how good they are to each other. They celebrate together, they grieve together, they hold each other when things are tough. David and I were very touched to hear so many of them say they want to come back and work with us next year.

There seems to be a renewed energy for supporting local farms. We are feeling the love, so thank you all! The farm crew and Warehouse Market crew are working hard to ensure a good flow of fresh vegetables moving from farm to market the whole time it is open. With the supply evened out, we have noticed that each day has about the same sales at market, which in turn has moderated line-ups.

In August we welcomed two new people to the farm crew, Jayson and Kenzie, and Jessica is new at the Warehouse Market. Today at our farm meeting we discussed as a group that we want the farm to get better not bigger. We’re going to focus on more soil-building cover crops, better crop planning, and production/sales balance. This year we’re also very happy with how little food waste is generated. At the end of Market, extra produce goes into Surplus Boxes; we trade with Sourdinah’s for baked goods; donate to the Dalhousie Student Union; the Mulgrave Park Family Resource Centre; and to our church, Pax North.