Open Hands Farm

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

Even though we are winding down like the quickly eclipsing month of September, exciting things are still happening around the farm and properties. The past few days have been catch-your-breath gorgeous, with cool mornings, clear blue skies, and buttery sun that still warms you up.
It has been a long time since I have spent a full year in the rhythms of the Northeast, and I must admit that I am reveling in these fall temperatures and transitions. There has been time for reflection on the work of the year, I am delving into two good books, and just generally find I have more room for a deep breath.
This year has wrought much change for me, and in the chaos of working the soil and focusing on creating a successful farm, I am only now looking back on it all and marveling. My roots are slowly beginning to become acclimated to their new environment.
I continue to work the ground, and we see crops like beets, carrots and greens begin to flourish in the cool temps. But even so, everything has most definitely slowed down with these cool nighttime temperatures.
Read on for even more about the Open Hands Farm week.

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Mixed Greens
Spinach

Herbs
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Yellow and Red Slicers
Banana Peppers
Shish*to Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Red & Yellow Sweet Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Fennel

Flowers
Mix Fall Bouquets

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

I haven't yet snapped a photo, but I bought a seeder for the farm! I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we just bought it . . . but our hand seeded rows always result in such beautiful germination that for a long time it didn't feel like the right move. But now, with the success of this season and the promise of an even better one to come, I could see how a seeder could double our productivity in the week.

I pulled a photo from the internet so you get the idea. I will put the seed in the plastic hopper and the shoe underneath opens a furrow, drops the seed and closes it up. I have much to learn about it still, although I do have a little experience with using it in the past. I am beyond excited to use it for seeding radishes, greens, carrots and more.

We might not have many weeks left on tomatoes but they are still very delicious. And they make a beautiful spread!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support at market all season! We hope to continue seeing you all through October, but I did want to express our gratefulness for each regular customer. It's our joy to chat farming, share cooking tips, and generally to grow produce that will nourish and sustain you. Thanks for making us part of your grocery list!

I am so pleased that beside the produce, our pottery display has steadily attracted both old and new customers. The Lion Potter is of course very close to my heart, don't forget to find them online here! (https://thelionpotter.square.site/)

With the slowing of farm days, I was able to make it out to some different activities this week. Above, see me perched on some lumber for a timber frame project Elisha is helping with at the Hartley Residence. It is incredible to watch him stretch his muscles with his timber framing skills and tap into the wealth of knowledge and expertise he has stored away. It's also been extremely life-giving to share skills and efforts with the Hartley Residence. It makes me feel like some of Elisha and my crazy philosophies about life might actually be worth their salt.

Below, Ms. Kay, Katherine, Myrah and I made it out to visit a local cafe and spend some time hiking around and exploring during a beautiful fall day.

Marigold Days

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

We are in full swing September now. The walnut trees are dropping their leaves as a prelude to the coming months. We are enjoying the cooler nights and mornings as pickers and planters. Plants love the summer heat and grow in leaps and bounds when the sunlight is plentiful and the nights are warm. With the fall comes slower growth and hardier plants. Our patterns change, too, as growers. We don't have to be quite as obsessive about getting the seedlings water, and the freshly harvested crops don't wilt as fast as we bring them in from the field. September has blossomed with blue skies and a definite feeling of transition. Even so, we will have a table full of tomatoes and veggies fresh from the field to bring you the taste of an Adams County Autumn.

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Mixed Greens
Spinach

Herbs
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Yellow and Red Slicers
Banana Peppers
Shish*to Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Red & Yellow Sweet Peppers
Green Bell Peppers
Fennel

Flowers
Mix Fall Bouquets

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

Our tomatoes are still producing well, although the vines are in decline. We are very grateful to the hardy plants for producing so tirelessly for more than two months now. I am working hard to finish the season strong and maintain a continuous harvest through October, even with the slowing of light and temperature.

Our herbs are finally going really strong. They have been thriving in the cooler, less humid days. If you need a recommendation for using dill, cilantro or parsley, we have a lot of ideas to share . . . From Green Goddess dressing to curries to salad filler, fresh herbs are a luxurious way to elevate your everyday eating experience.

Fall has brought on a reset in many ways. Summer, and this particular summer, is incredibly intense. I am eagerly welcoming this transition into less intensity, allowance for margin and a reevaluation of where my time ought to be spent. I hope you are finding good margin in your fall rhythms!

We have a nice little crop of fall fennel! It is so exciting. I heard they will produce a second round after their spring crop, but I didn't know how beautiful they would be. I hadn't gone over to the plot where we have the fennel in a while, and during harvest today I went to check it and was delighted to find it growing so well and ready to harvest.

It was very popular in the early summer so find it on our market table tomorrow (Saturday)!

If you need creative ways to try fennel, we will have a recipe card available. We love to put it in salads fresh or roasted, either with fresh greens or hearty fall grains like farro and barley.

Feels Like Fall

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

September days have arrived! It is a new normal to me that September brings the promise of oncoming rest. Back in Florida as a market farmer, I would have been getting my plots back into order and battling the heat to bring the first crops of the season.

I am still battling the heat here, but I know it will be diminishing soon so I cannot say that I am hating it. I guess I still have some tropical roots from my time in Florida.

This week saw me getting back into rhythms of farming, reconnecting with the team here and seeding rounds of fall crops. Also still lots of tomatoes to harvest. My gears have really begun to spin in terms of next season. It’s very cathartic to me to plan for the future how to avoid the pitfalls of the current season.

Sometimes I get stressed about the state of the farm, and Elisha will remind me of the abundance that lies before me. He is right and has taught me so much about being in the moment. However, it is true that as a farmer your market table in 4 weeks depends on your foresight today. Or sometimes even your table in 4 months. Or in terms of some fruit trees maybe 4 years!! All to say, forward thinking does pay off for the farmer. So I balance the joy of the moment with the prudence of thinking ahead.

Read on to check out our market spread this week. I must admit to a tad bit of weariness that I think the days ahead will revive, fall crops will bring a refreshing change of pace. Thanks for taking the journey with us.

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Butterhead lettuce
Curly + Dino Kale (Limited)
Dandelion Greens

Herbs
Parsley
Cilantro
Dill
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cabbage
Baby Cabbage
Round Radish (Limited)
Cucumber
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Yellow and Red Slicers
Banana Peppers
Shish*to Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Red & Yellow Sweet Peppers

Flowers
Mix bouquets zinnias/marigolds

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

I had a really lovely time home with my family in Florida. It was especially fun to spend an evening at the theater watching the show “Come from Away” about a small town in New Foundland that welcomed 38 planes into their community when the airspace was closed during 9/11. It was an amazing show demonstrating generosity and exemplifying radical hospitality. I hope to build these muscles more and more!

There have been so many thunderstorms lately! I enjoy the show of the clouds rolling in. It’s a rollercoaster trying to keep up with adjusting the irrigation to all the moisture.

This week came with the passing of a personal hero. Wendell Berry died at 92 years old. He lived his life so well, I could only take the news with a hint of grief, and a lot of gratitude. His takes on farming, community, and theology radically influenced my own and gave me solidity along with a keen sense of being understood. I am grateful to still have a treasure trove of novels and essays of his to explore. I do recommend checking out his essays, poems or novels.

Many of Wendell Berry’s poignant philosophies play out in my farming lifestyle and simmer in the back of my brain to season my actions and decisions. I am grateful for his life and work.

This week at market we will have lots of cilantro and dill. I love having herbs back on the table. This season has been somewhat less consistent than I should like because I am still understanding all the ups and downs of a new climate and summer rhythm. I also trialed herbs in trays since I ran out of bed space and they were not as successful as I would have liked. So some herbs are late to the party but here nonetheless and we rejoice.

We are seeding a lot of radish right now, fall mixed greens, spinach, carrots and beets. I want to try bok choy, Asian greens and arugula as well. I think our window for seeding anything is rapidly closing so some of these might be a learning curve, but we will find out. Anything successful will make their way to you at market.

Thank you for coming out to market, for all your support and encouragement and even just the smiles you bring. It surely is a gift to a hard working lot.

“You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else. What you must do is this:
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks.”
I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.”
― Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

Welcome to September

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

Thank you for tuning in today to read about the week at Open Hands Farm. I have had the privilege of spending a few days away from the farm visiting my family in Florida. I have two small nieces, three siblings whom I am close with, and my parents here in the Sunshine State, and it is great to connect and catch up with them.

Back in PA, Elisha, my boyfriend, and Katherine, our friend, have been keeping up with farm work and attending markets. You might have seen them at Camp Hill on Tuesday! I am so grateful I have them to trust with the day to day tasks so I could get away to visit family.

Read on to see a bit about the week, learn about my dads efforts at my old farm plot in Florida, and keep up with market happenings for the week ahead. We are glad you're here!

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Summercrisp head lettuce
Curly + Dino Kale (Limited)
Dandelion Greens

Herbs
Mint
Parsley
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cabbage (Limited)
Round Radish
Cucumber
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Yellow Slicers
Banana Peppers
Shish*to Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Red & Yellow Sweet Peppers

Flowers
Mix bouquets zinnias/marigolds

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

Florida Roots

In 2022 I made an agreement with a church in Longwood, Florida (a suburb of Orlando, for any PA folks) and began to grow food on their land. It was a beautiful partnership and I was so honored to be a grower there until I left for PA in January of this year. My dad has taken it over mostly as a community space and is in the throes of figuring out, along with Longwood Hills Congregational Church, which direction the land will go. As I walked the property this week I was so pleased to see many of the building blocks I had planted still thriving despite a tough winter.

Beautiful patches of cowpea, cranberry hibiscus and bananas thrive. Bottleneck gourd, mint and longevity spinach are growing, abundant sweet potato and cassava and vetiver grass all act as permacultural structure that helps shade the soil and protect diversity of life in the area. It remains a fertile and beautiful patch of land.

My dad is currently in the midst of clearing summer weeds and tarping areas to begin prep for the fall season. The soil is good, compost and mulch available, and plant material thriving. But it's a lot of work!!!

My dad is a pastor and local community chaplain, handling weddings, funerals, nursing home visits, and many other tasks. He is working on a vision of inlcuding the community and providing more to the food pantry housed in the church. Many hands are needed.

If you're in the Orlando area and want to get involved in helping with permaculture or annual production for the food pantry, reply to this email or contact my dad, Clint, by email at [email protected].

Back to the Week in PA

I will reiterate how amazing it is to have a team who is so trustworthy as to give me peace of mind as I step away from the plot in PA. Even though it is a short trip, even a few days away from the farm can have serious repercussions if you don't leave behind the proper care. Katherine and Elisha have seeded, woven, weeded and harvested in my absence. I think the plot will be in even better shape than when I left it! That is a blessing I cannot describe.

Elisha above poses with the Italian Sweet Bullhorn peppers we grow--red and yellow. Below, we continue to have beautiful radishes. There's nothing like an armful of root veggies.

We have an abundance of preying mantises on our property. They are fatastic pest control and they look cool doing it. It has been fun to see them all the way from eggsack to full grown mantis.

I was excited to sport our new aprons, embroidered with the farm logo, at market on Saturday! I thought it was time to upgrade from our usual cash collection to a more unified look (and partly because one of the f***y packs we used was my purse which I had to empty each week).

Autumnal Agriculture

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

Welcome back! We want to thank each one of you for another great week of markets. It is truly wonderful to connect with those at Camp Hill and to see familiar faces each week. I love the busyness of the Adams County Farmers market as well, and we so appreciate you coming out on your Saturday mornings. Tomatoes continue to flow steadily in although waning slightly, and I look to a new flight of Brandywine type tomatoes which should be ripening in the next few weeks.

With these August rains, I am doing battle with the weeds, trying to get to a point where we can layer mulch and fight less. I don't like to have to think about weeds, preferring to allow a tolerable amount until I do one big weeding, but that requires some up-front establishment of beds and then a small amount of maintenance every few weeks.

Other than weeding, my days consist of harvesting, flipping summer beds to fall beds, sorting produce, markets, and processing tomatoes to be stored over the winter. I am really excited to have these Roma tomatoes on hand all year for sauce.

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Summercrisp head lettuce
Butterhead lettuce
Curly + Dino Kale
Dandelion Greens

Herbs
Mint
Parsley
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cabbage
Salad turnips
Round Radish
Cucumber
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Red and Yellow Slicers
Banana Peppers
Shish*to Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Red & Yellow Sweet Peppers

Flowers
Mix bouquets zinnias/marigolds

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

Each week we harvest and put together custom bouquets to bring to market. They have been really lovely in the past two weeks, including pops of yellow, deep magentas, and spikes of terracotta and hosta-white. To me, having flowers on the table brings such joy and delight. I am always excited to share that with you at the market!

Pictured: me speaking energetically with my hands while I make a bouquet.

REMINDER!!! We have Roma tomatoes available in bulk sizes. These you can process and can or just stick in bags and put in the freezer. They freeze incredibly well. When you take them out to make your sauce, just put the tomatoes into water and the skin slips right off. It's a great canning hack I learned from our neighbor, Uncle Gary, the canning all-star.

I enjoy seeing everyone at market, but I was especially delighted to see my cousin and her husband this past week! Amanda and Matt hail from New Jersey and surprised me with a visit on the way home from a work trip. Amanda's mom and dad are my God-parents and great role models to me of family, dedication and kindness. They used to have a farm in New Jersey so they also represent some of my farming heritage!

We celebrated a birthday this week and Ms. Kay made a beautiful savory "cake" of layered bread, tomato sauce, cucumbers and iced in a sour cream/cream cheese mixture. It was so tasty and very beautiful to the eye.

Last year the place where Elisha is perching in this photo was a sloping hill, overtaken by weeds. With the help of a friendly neighbor, we were able to excavate and use the rocks to create a terrace garden. Now, Elisha harvests dandelion greens against a backdrop of sunsugar tomatoes and foreground of nasturtiums spilling over our terrace wall. Stewarding the land means taking good care of the areas in our keeping, and making them beautiful as well as productive.

Once again, we are so grateful for the busy market scenes like the one pictured below--made possible by each of you! We are working diligently to continue bringing produce to you into the cooler season ahead for as long as we can.

Tapering Summer

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

Thank you for your patience with me as I wade through aisles of tomato plants and focus my attention on writing this newsletter to you! Since this is my first full year of farming in Pennsylvania, I am learning the pacing of the season. What I am learning right now is that August is tough! I am so very grateful for the abundant rains we have gotten all through July and into August, but the weeds are also grateful. It is a lot to keep up with along with harvesting, plant maintenance and flipping beds. The other challenge I am facing is knowing what exactly to invest in during these last few weeks of heat and sunlight. (Plants will begin to grow slower as we lose temperature and daylight.) But each week we do all that we can to ensure that we will have more crops in the coming weeks, the best of the harvest comes to you, and the plots stay somewhat neat and orderly. Read along to see what's new on the farm and find out what is available at this weeks market!

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Summercrisp head lettuce
Curly + Dino Kale
Dandelion Greens
Collards

Herbs
Mint
Parsley
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cabbage
Salad turnips
Cucumber
Zucchini
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Red and Yellow Slicers
Green Bell Peppers
Banana Peppers
Shish*to Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers
Red & Yellow Sweet Peppers

Flowers
Mix bouquets zinnias/marigolds

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

Our Camp Hill Tuesday market has continued to get better each week. It is a long day for me, rising to harvest in the morning and not really stopping until late in the evening around 9 pm, but it is great to greet each one of you and get to share the bounty.

This week at both markets we will have a BULK option of Roma Tomatoes. Our romas are a smaller variety, but they are much sweeter and of better flavor than your average sauce tomato. A 10 lb basket of tomatoes will be available for $42. If you're looking to freeze or can tomatoes for the coming winter, I highly recommend these. Also, they make great tomato jam!

Peppers are truly breaking into the scene now! I am excited to see them coloring up. This is my first time growing the sweet, bull-horn shaped red and yellow peppers on my own. I am pleased and impressed with their yield, size and health.

We also have Shish*to peppers available which are great for stirfries and grilling. They are not a spicy pepper, but they do add a nice pepper flavor to any dish.

The Farm Community

I began Open Hands Farm in 2022 in Orlando, Florida. My family had been in Orlando since I was young, and I had just moved back to town after managing a 20-acre fruit and veggie farm for 3 years. From 2022-2025 I built a business from the ground up (literally, farming humor) and I ran the farm through occasional volunteers, work trades, and family help, partnering with a local church and food bank to grow on their property. I was getting to the point where I needed to scale up the business to keep growing; improving irrigation, land use and infrastructure, but that would have settled me in Orlando more permanently. Since Elisha and I had been dating long distance for a while, we decided it was time to invest in a move instead of setting deeper roots in Orlando.

So I moved to Pennsylvania in January and broke ground on my first plot in early March. Since then we have been growing steadily and we have been providing two markets and a few wholesale accounts now since the end of June.

While I am the main instigator of farming activities, I wanted to share this story because there are many contributors to the success of Open Hands Farm.

Elisha and his whole family give endless support in a plethora of ways. I eat many meals at their table, farm on their land, sell at the produce stand, and everyone here is always willing to lend a hand to load the van, pick tomatoes or put flowers in bouquets.

Katherine’s family owns the land that I live and farm on. Along with this major contribution, Katherine is also teaming up with me to learn how to effectively run a small market farm. Kath can often be found in the field with me or running the market stand. We share knowledge, produce and meals together.

Dorothy Hartley runs an artist residence (https://www.thehartleyresidence.com/) program and farm in Aspers. We do a work-trade situation sharing labor, produce, good conversation and the like. Dorothy is an amazing artist, manager and community member, and we adore having her company as well as effort involved in the farm.

There are countless others who have contributed time, effort or encouragement, not the least of which are our valued customers who believe in our products and come out Saturday, Tuesday and during the week to find our products.

We find that most things that are worth doing take a particular mix of effort, attention, and passion. It can be hard to give those all season long, but having a support system is a huge advantage. We are so grateful for the helping hands we have received. We truly couldn't do it without you.

August

Open Hands Farm: Updates & Offering

Hello from Open Hands Farm!

Last week was so busy that I wasn't able to send out my usual newsletter but I am pleased to have a lovely, tomato-filled saga for you this week.

Months ago we gingerly placed seeds into the trays of soil and nursed the baby plants to the point where they could go into the ground, we composted the rows in preparation for their arrival in the field, we covered them with frost cloth for the cold nights and uncovered them in the morning. As they grew, we staked and wove them so they grew straight, and a few weeks ago we began to glimpse the glorious shades of ripening on the fruit. Now, the tomatoes are in full swing. I am so beyond excited to share them with you! Every tomato I harvest feels precious. And that's saying something because I must have harvested a thousand or more in the last few weeks.

Come out tomorrow to grab a slice of summer that's been nurtured just for you!

What's Available at Market?

Greens
Summercrisp head lettuce
Curly + Dino Kale
Dandelion Greens
Collards

Herbs
Mint
Parsley
Thai Basil
Italian Basil

Veggies
Cabbage
Fennel
Salad turnips
Broccolini
Celery
Cucumber
Zucchini
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Large Heirloom Type Tomatoes
Large Red and Yellow Slicers

Flowers
Mix bouquets zinnias/marigolds

Markets We Attend

Market on Market (https://www.camphillborough.com/departments/downtown_camp_hill/farmers_market.php) Tuesday afternoons from 3 - 7 pm
Camphill, PA
Trinity Lutheran Church

Adams County Farmers Market (https://www.acfarmersmarkets.org/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16068586957&gbraid=0AAAAAoaEKqcVEr9MIRKxd5NGMHaEvbOdv&gclid=CjwKCAjwu53SBhAhEiwAJzSLNhuOXnQZdo3O8L6xcz03N4KHlROMDyjtsgF8KLLEJWC-PPVn2DZIcBoCGwQQAvD_BwE) Saturday mornings from 8am - 1pm
Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg Rec Park

I thought it might be nice to walk you through what a typical pre-market day looks like. I try to harvest everything for Tuesday market on Tuesday and everything for Saturday market on Friday.

The night before the harvest I develop a harvesting list, and then get up early on Friday to start the day. We try to get started at 5 or 6 AM to beat the heat. Usually, Dorothy, Katherine, or some mix of people, end up coming out to help me harvest. It is such a blessing to me to have not only helping hands, but also folks who are such a joy to have around. We usually get in some good convos and philosophizing in around me trying to figure out what we need to harvest next.

We usually harvest for a few hours, starting with all the leafy greens. We have to wait until later in the morning to get things like tomatoes and cucumbers since the dew is heavy on them, and there is danger of spreading diseases if you harvest before these plants are dry.

At 8:30 or so, Elisha makes us breakfast and we come in to feast on some of the delicious produce that we have been working with. Elisha is a fantastic cook and also so kind to sacrifice his mornings to make sure we get fed!

After harvesting, all the produce goes through it's own unique process of care to make sure it is stored to last as long as possible. For some things, this means getting rinsed or dunked to remove field heat. For others, it means just being packaged and put in cooler temperatures. After working with the produce for so long, I am pretty acclimated to the different needs of different products.

If you're ever curious about how to store a specific product let me know! I am happy to share my tips and tricks.

Above and below are some of the products we harvested today for tomorrow's market. Romas for the salad or tomato sauce, sun sugars for the tasty snack or roasting in the oven.

After harvesting all the produce, the pottery has to be packed for market. I like to bring new pieces every week, and it is fun to curate the collection. The van also has to be packed, tomatoes put into quarts or pints, and flowers put in bouquets.

Somewhere in there we eat lunch all together, and we try to drink lots of water. I am so grateful to be surrounded by good people so it is hardly ever a lonely process.

After all that effort, which happens every week, we end up all set up on Saturday morning (or Tuesday afternoon) to bring all this fresh, local goodness to your plate! Thank you for your support and partnership.

It is hard work, but it is good work. I am so grateful to you for making it possible for us to be out here doing this work!!

Dorothy made this delicious salad with Open Hands Farm tomatoes and cucumbers and basil.

Check out below the most recent recipe card by Katherine!! Each week gets better and better. The recipe is as delicious as the artwork is beautiful.

Item Spotlight

Check out our website for fun ways to support the farm from afar or rep Open Hands Farm merch.

Thank you so much for reading along. We are so grateful, once again, for your support. Always feel free to reach out with questions, inquiries or comments.

Kindly,
Cate Kandle
Owner/Operator of Open Hands Farm

Dressed in Summer's Best