"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings" -Masanobu Fukuoka

With the deluge of rain this week, our fields have been quite the mud-pit. When the fields are wet, we try to keep the tractors off of them as much as possible in order to prevent soil compaction. We have one last big wave of plants to get in the ground before the first frost, so we couldn't wait around for the fields to dry. Planting by hand is pretty slow going - we're using a stick to poke holes in the ground (see below). So far this week the team has planted around 21,000 plants by hand. Safe to say we're all hoping for a dry, sunny weekend so we can be back on the tractor on Monday.** A big ole happy birthday to our fearless leader, Brenton Johnson, this week! His birthdate falls on Election Day, so Tuesday was eventful to say the least. We also visited the Texas Farmers Market at Mueller last Sunday to catch up with the crew and see the veggie experts at work.

**farm updates from Charlotte McClure!

Sagan and Adams at work. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Market spread. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Satsuma orange. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brenton distributing his Satsuma bounty. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Market scene. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm mornings. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bok choy - bird's eye view. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm colors. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kohlrabi. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Transplanting old school. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Transplanting by hand. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Chucha. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Growing. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cilantro. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Take off. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Pea tendrils. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Montana mendin' vehicles. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Drying out. Photo by Scott David Gordon.