The Harvest Bee Blog

Good Evening, Friends: "We will rebuild." This phrase, tinged with a bit of sarcasm by some, yet altogether true in its relevance to the situation, appeared over local social media accounts this past weekend after that devastating storm wreaked its havoc on our humble town. For many people, myself included, the word that probably sticks out in the phrase the most would be 'rebuild', right? I mean one need only to drive around Naples for a few minutes Sunday to quickly comprehend the ramifications from this storm. However, Sunday morning I realized the real key word in that phrase of determination and resiliency is 'We'. It is very easy to feel alone in the world when you are staring down the long road of recovery that lies ahead after a storm like that one bull dozes through...or any other variations of roads of recovery. However, as we have seen so many times, people, neighbors, families, friends, even strangers and sometimes sworn enemies all find a way to join together in those moments to help lift one another up and while that may not necessarily shorten the journey to recovery, it certainly makes it feel a little less heavy and our hearts a little more full. I am sure many of you received that awful piercing warning siren on your phones early Sunday morning indicating the coming onslaught. Only a few hours later, as the morning was breaking and the storm passed, my phone rang and I saw that it was Chuck calling from The Hive. I knew eventually I was going to have to go to there and assess the situation, but I was not ready for the bad news just yet. I picked up the phone anyways and it became apparent very quickly that the farm was not the most important concern as Chuck explained that the monstrous Jacaranda tree right in front of his front door had fallen. Thankfully it had fallen away from the house, not on it, for a farm can be replanted and trellises rebuilt, fairly but, houses can not be so quickly repaired and worse even, lives cannot be replaced. A bullet was indeed dodged, but it still was not pretty...not for those that lived around the farm and I know for many of you. too. When I arrived at The Hive it was a magical scene, both devastating and divine. Whole trees, limbs, power lines, lanai screens, and much more thrown everywhere. Amongst all this rubble, though, stood neighbors all teaming up to clean up the mess at each others' residences. The human spirit was alive and well and that is energy that we so desperately need, both in difficult times AND in times of happiness. Ultimately, the field and the fruit tress all held up pretty well with only minor losses, but nothing that cannot be rebounded from and not enough to stop us from proceeding with the CSA this week. Although we may not fully grasp the effects of the storm for at least a few more days, we are upbeat that we will be ok. In fact, one of the great gifts of the storm for us is a few nice mounds of mulch that will be working its way back into the soil to increase its structure. How about that for bio-dynamic?!? A very special thank you to Rachel for scavenging the field for tree limbs and stabilizing the pepper plants. That was a phenomenal help! Certainly, I am grateful for the people of Tallowood Way, too, for reminding me why humans are so special. Obviously, we farmers mainly grow food for humans to consume and situations like this storm event and the aftermath kindle the fire within to commit even more to growing food for people in all of their infinite forms of beauty, compassion, and love. In this week's share you will find the following: Starfruit Passion Fruit Grapefruit Coconut Lettuce Mix Beans To extract the very nutritious coconut water, check out this video of how to open it, as well as to have access to the edible coconut flesh. (No, that's not Matt Riley in the video!) However, if you really want to make life simple and are just looking for the water simple power drill a few long holes in one end of the coconut and filter out the water for a nice refreshing and energizing morning drink to start the day! You will hear/feel the drill bit break through the flesh and into the cavity where the water is held. Use a longer bit (6" at least). Something different, yet totally native. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNndQKpUz3w What a crazy season, so far! July temperatures in the middle of December. Now hurricane like storms in the middle of Jan. What's next? Snow in March? Whatever it will be it will be and we will respond accordingly. All of you are in our heart this week for reasons other than sharing in farm fresh food and we hope that whatever damage was done as a result of the storm that the recovery is quick. Please let us know if there is anything on our end we can do to help, too. We will see you at pick ups this week and here's to toasting to good health through good food especially in not so good times. "Onen" The Bees