It’s organic cucumber and tomato, elderberry and apple season at Draco Hill! These last two donated by our generous neighbor Margaret Bailey who is also the driving force of knowledge (and sheep manure) behind this year’s successful garden!

We donated 30 pounds of cucumbers to the Johnson County Food Bank yesterday after pickling 20 quarts and giving many away to our hard-working WWOOFers. Here’s Kate, our last WWOOFer, with some pickles she helped make and a beautiful bouquet of sunflowers from Versaland Farm. Kate helped Organic Grant  give bouquets away at the Iowa City Farmers Market last week, with many people returning the gift with much-needed food, coffee or cash.

Last week, Paul made elderberry syrup (OK it was supposed to be jam…but it’s a really good syrup too!) and I made applesauce, all waiting for colder days to warm us up from the inside out. Now see that we have plenty of elderberry bushes around our place from which to  pick next year!

And here’s the latest tomato haul. The ones on the table come to 35 pounds (along with some fresh basil). In the spare fridge is probably another 35. We’ll be making some great baked tomato sauce to freeze and then canning the rest.

Nearby friends – if you’d like cucumbers or tomatoes, let us know and we’ll set some aside for you as they come in!