Weekly Updates from the Farm

August on the farm can be a funny time of year — the peak of summer abundance, and also a bit of an ebb after a very hot July. Farmer Curtis on heat, harvest, and the beauty that shows up right beside the hard parts.

Sarah and I are on an anniversary trip this weekend, so minimal update. The crops are looking good — and if you haven’t tried them yet, the Sugar Cube cantaloupe are really incredible: small, but sweet and delicious.

One of the things I’ve come to appreciate more and more over the years is how much the people around you shape the experience of the work itself. Farming is hard work — but hard work feels very different when you’re doing it with good people.

This week has given us a little bit of nearly every kind of summer weather: bright sun, soaking rain, heavy heat, and a few wonderfully cool stretches mixed in between. The plants seem to be making the most of all of it.

The week began with the kind of heavy July heat that makes every farm task feel a little harder. Then the weather shifted, and the past three days have been remarkably pleasant.

This has been one of those weeks farmers appreciate: a healthy mix of rain and sunshine—and cantaloupe season is beginning.

While summer is in full swing, we're already thinking about fall. In one field we're picking tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers as fast as they ripen; a few rows away we're tarping beds and spreading compost for the harvests of September and beyond.

Well… summer has settled in. After one of the wettest Junes in years, the heat has swung in to stay awhile — so we've shifted our rhythm: sunrise harvests, swim breaks, and the quiet lesson that resilience is about responding well to change.

June has decided to keep us on our toes this year. Instead of settling into a hot, dry summer, we’ve been dodging rainstorm after rainstorm — and reflecting on adapting, high tunnels, and the sunshine finally on the horizon.

Over the last few weeks, we've been sharing the framework we use to make decisions at Millsap Farms: Planet, People, and Profit. Today, Farmer Curtis talks about the third pillar — why a profitable farm is what keeps us farming.