We are in danger of being overwhelmed by the gardens' bounty this season. We are having bumper crops of some veggies and we are working hard to keep up with all the food processing. We are slicing, dicing, freezing, canning and dehydrating at a furious pace. Even the zucchini is going crazy. It usually doesn't make a big crop for us. Due to the somewhat cooler weather this summer, peppers and a few other items are late, but I'm sure they will catch up.

One of the major events on the farm this time of year is our garlic harvest. It came hard on the heels of a big onion crop that was already taking up much of our drying capacity in the new shed extension.

Folks really pitched in to help Michael and Laird get the garlic out of the field. We opened up space in the Horse Barn and got the garlic either spread out on racks or bundled and hung from the walls of the barn.

There have been regular "gos" every morning that the weather is good to weed the sorghum fields. The work goes fast with company and it gives everyone a chance to hang out and talk. We did a field tour after supper the other evening and the crop is looking good.

Our intern Josie's friend Bree has been here again this past week for a visit and has been pitching in to help with many tasks. It's nice to see her smiling face. Another guest was here over the weekend. Frank is a member of Sarvis Point Community in southwest Missouri. He helped out with our ongoing carrot harvest while he was here(another bumper crop!).

We also had overnight visits week before last with Kim and Natalie, who are from Oregon, and Heidi and her three daughters. Heidi is from Iowa and has visited Sandhill twice before.

Tanya, one the the work exchangers at Dancing Rabbit, came over early before the weekly joint dinner last Thursday for a plant walk with me. She has worked as a naturalist at the Presidio National Park in San Francisco. It was fun to exchange information with her about a common interest.

Laird, Sue and Jo returned from Michigan on July 21st. They attended Sue's family reunion and got in some beach time on Lake Michigan while they were there. Bekka headed to Boston for a three week vacation starting on July 25th and Sol and Skyler left for Delaware and Maryland on the 3lst. Sol's dad Brian flew out from Baltimore and they drove back east together.

Jo turned sixteen on July 23rd. We celebrated her birthday that Friday with a special dinner that she cooked with Ceilee, who came up from Columbia for the festivities. Jo left for New York City on the 30th and will spend some time with Elke before heading back to boarding school in New Hampshire.

Stan got back from an inspection trip to eastern Kansas on the 27th. He says it is extremely dry out there again this year. He swung by Columbia on the way back and spent the night at Ceilee's. He and Gigi went down to St Louis this last Friday. They did the Clayton Farmers Market on Saturday morning and spent the rest of the weekend visiting friends.

Cory Renay and her dad French went up to Minnesota this weekend to spend time with his family. Renay and Gigi did some fishing in our pond during the week and caught enough crappie for us to have some for lunch the other day.

Now that August is here, we are beginning to plan for the upcoming sorghum season. There are a lot of things that need to be done before mid-September when the harvest begins. We are also getting ready for our Sorghum Festival again. It will be on Saturday, September 27th. Be sure to mark that date on your calendar.