Dear Uhaul CEO
As I'm sure is the stereotypical vision of what a small organic farm vehicle situation looks like, Roots in Reverie is the living example of that stereotype. All of our daily commuters, 20+ years old, dinged and dented, scratched and dusty, missing hubcaps, broken doors, haven't-been-washed in...ever, have been in and out of the shop all season. Big Red, our trusty on-farm workhorse and [most importantly] our delivery/market vessel - blew a hose and overheated on Tuesday on its way to Gather with our weekly vanload of fresh produce to their warehouse. We had to scramble and get the pick-up truck to the gas station in Durham where she was steamin' n' sweatin' - transfer the organic lettuce and some other leafy greens into a cooler (so's they wouldn't get wind burn on the highway) and stack and secure the cucurbits and nightshades in the truck bed. A silver lining to where the van decided to quit was that it was across the street from a mechanic who was able to make time and give it the attention it needs. We hope to hear the good word from them fine folk as early as today, and return Big Red to the fleet.
We limped through the week with the help of our trusty U-Haul allies in Dover (we did a lot of business with them last year when Big Red was out of commission, you may remember the box truck pulling up to your restaurant every week for like 2 months last summer/fall, or at the farmers markets in Dover and Exeter). A smooth operation over there at the U-Haul Dover, easy peazy. Anyway, if the CEO of U-Haul happens to be reading this, hello, yes, we are Roots in Reverie, a scrappy crew growing organic food on 5 acres and are in the market for a new delivery vehicle! We have no money, but are more than happy to pay in cherry tomatoes. Oh and definitely some flowers. Maybe a watermelon. You can reach me by email at farmerjosh@rootsinreverie.com. Thank you and we appreciate your consideration.
It's flop season now, that time of year where the cherry tomatoes in the field are so tall that they are essentially doing a toe-touch stretch, where they are bent over the tallest trellis line of support and their new growth is brushing against the straw-mulch floor. In my estimation, some of the plants are close to 10' tall. In a few areas, the adjacent rows are flopped towards each other - so the harvester finds themself in a sticky tomato-resiny canopy jungle. Good times, getting green fruits and sticky leaves stuck in hair and clothing. Might be time trim them back.
Overall, in spite of or despite (both?) the extreme drought plaguing our region this summer, we are pulling food from the fields in immense quantities. In our new plot, the only place we've been irrigating field crops, because again, it's a gravel pit and holds no water, we're pulling in good flushes of summer squash and zucchini, and are excited by the looming winter squash harvest. We got in there over the weekend and pulled in some Spaghetti - and Miranda poked around and pulled in some pumpkins. The butternuts and honeynuts and acorns and delicatas are all starting to ripen, so we'll be continuing that harvest in the coming weeks. On Saturday too, we caught up on a little bit of planting and threw in our last round of field broccoli and a Fall attempt at Napa Cabbage - a breezy 1,500 plants.
Looks like a chance of some rain later today (just jinxed it), so we will use this opportunity to do some direct seeding into the field. On the list-to-seed today: spinach, hakurei, mizuna, baby kale, radish, daikon, broccoli raab, mustards -- them's late summer-to-fall delights. Anyway, thanks for reading, goodbye!
60’s Community Mixtape
We are going to make another community playlist this summer and we'd love for you to join the fun! You may remember last year we made a Beatles-only playlist. You can access and listen here. This year, we are going to open it to the entire decade! So any song, rendition, live performance, etc. produced/recorded in the 60s is eligible (including the Beatles)! We will compile all submissions and make it into a giant mixtape for us all to share.
At the end we will add the page and link on our website, as well as a link to your business or nonprofit or art page with your submissions.
Deadline to submit your 10-song 60s mixtape is: 12pm, October 1, 2025.
Any questions please ask!
Around the Farm
On Friday, we pulled in the first flush-of-yellow fruits from our big squash and pumpkin patch. Spaghetti Squash! Despite the extreme stress these plants have been under all season - this hot and dry summer - we are happy with the yield! As it is still early in the season for winter squash and the plants are still alive, we just pulled the yellowest fruits from the vine, hoping to size up the remaining green fruits and extend the harvest. All smiles here in the photo: Miranda, Bria, and Skyler farmin' the farm - thanks for all your hard work and heavy lifting!
Tomato jungle that appears to be swallowing Bria back there. Reminds me of the Homer Simpson meme
Green beans looking lush and full of flowers in the tunnel. Beans are developing and we hope to see a harvest soon. Who's gon' pick all these beans?
