Here is a bit of irony. Each Friday we have to discard a certain amount of detritus and refuse while bagging. This week it was mostly just tomatoes that had blossom end rot, got damaged in transport up to the milk-house, or generally that I didn't think were good enough to put into the share. This bucket has just tomatoes for the compost pile. In other words, on Friday I threw away more tomatoes than I harvested all year from the garden last year! What a difference in seasons.
We also pulled enough Green Zebra tomatoes off the garden this week for everyone to have one. This is actually ripe when green. Well, when it blushes yellow like those in the photo (and in your share). Another delicious, interesting heirloom.

You may have already come across this but below is an example of something we're likely to miss when bagging. These yellow tomatoes are 'Gold Nugget'. They tend to get this brown spot pattern on them when the plants are nearly done producing. I just can't spot all the spots (play on words not intended). I don't recommend you eat them. They won't hurt you but they certainly don't taste very god. I highly suggest that people go through their tomatoes upon arriving home and remove any that are damaged from transport, have spots, etc. Discard those that have the spots and eat the cracked or bruised ones immediately.

With every plus comes a bit of a reality check. People everywhere seem to understand that this has been a 'good season' for gardening. That's been true. However, we're running into the hard facts of climate change. Below is a photo from Friday morning just outside the milk-house. John's (Em's dad) already has lots of squash and pumpkins ready. It's August. That's not right. Everyone is experiencing the same thing. Everything is early. The age old agricultural patterns and rules are falling away. Who knows what will come in the future. Anomalies like this will only get worse and more frequent according to the vast majority of climate and environmental scientists.

By participating in a local, beyond organic, food chain involving a small-scale, family farm, you are helping to make changes that might help us turn this around. At the very least, you'll be able to alleviate some of the most difficult pressures that will come when the oil economy collapses. It currently takes 10+ calories of energy to produce each calorie of 'food' in the industrial, global food system. That doesn't even count the calories that come with transporting the 'food' around the globe. You are participating in a different paradigm. Thank you!