June has certainly decided to keep us on our toes this year.

If you’ve lived in the Ozarks very long, you know that June is usually when we begin settling into a hot, dry summer pattern. Instead, we’ve found ourselves dodging rainstorm after rainstorm, watching creeks spill out of their banks, and wondering if the sun remembers where we live.

The good news is that vegetables love water… up to a point. After weeks of saturated soil and high humidity, even healthy plants begin to feel the strain. We’ve started seeing the first signs of fungal diseases and an occasional rotten tomato or cucumber that simply couldn’t dry out between storms. That’s one of the reasons we’ve invested so heavily in high tunnels over the years. Those covered spaces don’t just help us grow earlier in the spring—they also allow us to protect crops from weeks like this, when too much rain can be just as challenging as too little.

Of course, farming is always an exercise in adapting. We harvest carefully, sort diligently, and only send produce home that we’re proud to feed our own family. Every season has its challenges, and this year’s June has certainly been memorable.

The forecast, however, suggests that change is on the horizon. Next week looks much more like a typical Ozarks summer, with sunshine, heat, and several dry days in a row. While we’ll undoubtedly be complaining about watering again before long, those warm, dry days should help slow disease pressure, firm up the fields, and let many of our summer crops really hit their stride, while also providing a handy reason to go swim in the creek…

As always, thank you for sharing the adventure of farming with us. Every week reminds us that we don’t control the weather—but together we can certainly appreciate the harvest that comes from the rain and the sun both.

– Farmer Curtis

Saturday Pizza!

The rain on Thursday meant that we had to postpone pizza until Saturday this week. If wood-fired pizza is calling your name, we have a delicious menu scheduled this week, and would love to host you on the farm. Get your tickets for Saturday, or other nights, here.