Farmer Kurt’s Field Notes: August 8, 2026

This week felt like one of those weeks where we could actually see the season shifting. The summer crops are really starting to arrive, our fall planting is wrapping up, and (perhaps the biggest news of all) we officially made our first Farmer’s Bag Toledo delivery!

Farmer’s Bag Toledo Is Officially Underway

Friday was our very first pickup for the new Farmer’s Bag Toledo program at Urban Wholistics, and it went swimmingly well.

We had 65 members scheduled to pick up, and only three people didn’t show up! That’s pretty remarkable for the first week of a brand-new program. We also had an incredible group of volunteers who showed up to help us manage the pickup and guide people through the process. We even had one CSA member show up to help pass out food! (Thanks, Corey!)

Members got to choose from a selection of fresh produce, including a “farmer surprise.” This week, that surprise was kohlrabi, and quite a few people had absolutely no idea what it was! That gave us the chance to do a little coaching and show people how they might use it.

There were a few minor kinks to work out, but overall, the day felt incredibly smooth — almost God-orchestrated as all the pieces came together. And with more than 100 people already on the waiting list, we’re really excited about the potential for this program to grow.

Onions, Garlic & a Whole Lot of Cantaloupe

Meanwhile, back at the farm, our crew harvested a big crop of candy sweet yellow onions. They were pulled from the field, loaded onto a giant wagon, and moved into the greenhouse, where they’re now spread across the tables to cure. That curing period allows the outer layers and necks to dry down so the onions will store better.

The crew is also almost finished processing the garlic that has been curing in the greenhouse. There are just a few black crates left! Processing means trimming off the roots and stems, cleaning away the dirty outer skins, and getting each bulb ready for storage and sale. And this week, CSA members will finally see some of that garlic in their boxes.

Then there are the cantaloupes.

Our parents (who operate Bench Farms St. Rte 2) grow melons right next to our property, and apparently the cantaloupes all got the memo that it was time to ripen at once. They harvested more than eight bins of them! That’s an enormous amount of melon to suddenly need to sell.

Rather than see that beautiful crop go to waste, we decided to share the bounty and put one cantaloupe into every CSA share this week. These melons are not organic, since they’re grown by Bench Farms, but we’re pretty excited to be able to help our parents move some of that unexpected abundance while giving our members an extra summer treat. You’ll also see it in the fruit share, too.

Fall Planting: DONE!

There was a happy farmer around here this week because we finished transplanting all of our fall brassicas! The transplant wagon that has seemingly been full of plants forever is finally EMPTY.

We also pulled out our MaterMac – otherwise known around here as the “Frankenstein seeder” – to drill our fall plantings of daikon radishes, watermelon radishes, and more carrots.The high tunnel peppers are beginning to turn red, and our heirloom tomatoes are finally arriving, too. You’ll see some of those tomatoes making their way into the CSA shares this week.

We also got a quick downpour that dropped about half an inch of rain, which we’ll gladly take.

Finding a New Harvest Rhythm

Our weekly rhythm has gotten a little more complicated now that Farmer’s Bag Toledo has begun.

We’re already harvesting Mondays and Wednesdays for our regular CSA distributions. Now we’ve added a Thursday harvest for Toledo, too. That means three major harvest days squeezed into one week — and somehow all the planting, cultivating, washing, packing and other farm jobs still have to happen around them. Losing my Friday evenings off with Corinna and Josiah is something I’m going to miss.

We’re figuring it out. Some crops are getting pre-harvested when we can, and we’re learning where this new program fits into the rhythm of the farm. Like most new things around here, it’ll take a little experimenting.

Meanwhile, Off the Farm…

Corinna actually escaped the farm for a weekend! She headed to Chicago with CSA member Kendra Davis to visit a chiropractor who’s helped her in the past. After dealing with stubborn shoulder pain for the last five or six months, she was ready to make the trip, and five days later, she’s already noticing a huge improvement. (There may also have been a hotel stay and a Trader Joe’s run involved).

Josiah had his own adventure: his first-ever trip to Cedar Point. Somehow we’ve lived this close to Cedar Point his entire life and he’d never been there. Let’s just say his stomach may not be requesting a return trip anytime soon. He puked his guts out.

And finally, Jed is heading into Week Five of BMT (Basic Military Training)! As far as we know, he survived last week’s Gas Chamber test (don’t even ask), and he’s now got roughly two and a half weeks to go. We’re getting closer and closer to seeing him in San Antonio.

So that’s life around here this week: new programs, three harvest days, curing onions, ripening tomatoes, way too many cantaloupes, one empty transplant wagon, one recovering shoulder, one unhappy stomach, and one kid getting closer to the finish line at boot camp.

See you next week!

—Farmer Kurt