We love summer on the farm, what with all the vegetables coming in, animals on a salad bar of pasture and brambles fruiting all over the place – it’s the time to showcase what NJ can grow. But this past week is for the birds – with heat and humidity so intense that it’s making us wish for additional TV listings of Sharknado.
Heat waves like this are hard for the animals and the humans that care for them. Just thinking (obsessing, actually) about the water-to-shade-to-animal quotient has caused several sleepless nights. Lots of moves have been made to accommodate the heat.
Here’s Ranger in the pen with the young chickens, under a canopy of green. He had dug a ‘bed’ in the dirt was cooling down nicely! The chickens don’t seem to mind, either.
This extreme heat is also hard for the veggies – smack in the middle of harvesting and planting successions for the cooler months. Under cover of the greenhouse, Lindsay is setting up some soil for planting.
Outside the greenhouse sit these gorgeous baby greens that seem to love the blazing sun and humidity.
Even though we’re all complaining about the heat, the lack of rain has been a boon for several other areas of our operation. Now the garlic is actually drying as we hang it in the barn!
And the tomatoes are loving it. It is so exciting to see this much fruit almost ready for sandwiches, salads or just eating plain – straight from the field!
So try to stay cool, slather on the sunscreen and hydrate as we power through the next several days. And look for Sharknado on Syfy…
