Summer Favorites at the Farm
Summer at the Hub Farm is characterized by bright, lush greens, deep blazing reds, smiling yellows, and vibrant, dappled purples. Abundance pokes out her head, timidly at first, and then with a brazen confidence that keeps our harvest baskets heavy with her gifts. The work that began in late winter and early spring comes to fruition in the summertime, reminding us at the Hub Farm that patience and quiet dedication rewards tenfold. This summer, we harvested 82.27 lbs of cool customer cucumber, 72.45 lbs of potatoes, 30.74 lbs of tomatoes, over 4 lbs of lunchbox pepper, over 6 lbs of pattypan squash, over 11 lbs of jalapeno peppers, over 9 lbs of shishito pepper, and over 5 lbs of purple hull peas– bringing us to a total of over 220 lbs of produce harvested.
On any cool summer morning at the Hub Farm, you’re greeted first by chatty catbirds and melodic mourning doves and then by the buzzing excitement of curious children hunting for critters down at the creek, tasting sweet juicy cherry tomatoes in the garden, or giggling at the names of our chickens (Fluffbutt always takes the cake). Alongside a delicious harvest, the summer has brought over 500 hundred children to the Hub Farm– experiencing the outdoors through meaningful, curiosity-driven experiences they’ll never forget. Blue gills and large-mouth bass were caught and released on our floating lab out on the pond, wood sorrel was tasted and raved about, and mini animal habitats were built and shared in our forest classroom.
As the height of summer comes to a close, the Hub Farm also says a bittersweet goodbye to the people that made this summer one to remember. Over the past months, the Hub Farm has been joined by two high school interns from Durham Public Schools’ Rising Stars program, one UNC undergrad from the SECU Public Fellows Internship program, and one graduate student completing her Master’s at UNC Gilling’s School of Public Health. Together, our team of five (including our two full-time staff members, Ashley and Justin) have made this summer one to remember. We led programs, started our very own book club (Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer), harvested and prepared delicious fruits and veggies for farm lunch, and learned more about ourselves and the natural world.
Although we’ll miss the summer season and all its gifts– both plant and people, the Hub Farm is excited to greet Fall in the coming weeks!