As August ends and summer begins to wind down, we have good news for the garden, despite the summer drought. Water was hauled to the gardens by hand this year, whenever it was available. The plants suffered severely and some never made it to harvest, but some were real winners! We have had a few trips to the food pantry this summer, much less than last year, but the tomatoes, leaf vegetables, and peppers have made it there. This month, we entered 34 categories at the Kenosha County Fair and won 29 ribbons!!! Our entries included fresh vegetables, canned vegetables, and cut flowers. In the blue ribbon category, we had a beautiful first place win in the cut flower division as our very own veteran, George Wieszczyk, planted and watered a bed of zinnias on the farm. George comes to the farm daily and has helped with the garden, horses, and the hard work in the heat with the watering and harvesting. Congratulations to you, George, and thank you so much for all your hard work!
This month, we also made preparations to participate in two events to represent the farm and get our information out to veterans and their families. We plan to have a ‘booth’ at the Labor of Love Music Festival in Munster, WI which raises money to support suicide prevention education on September 2, 2012. Then, we plan to attend the Waukegan Fly In at the Waukegan Airport to handout more flyers and information. We plan to take some of our Zinnias to show off George’s hard work and to let people know how proud we are of them. Our newest fundraiser is to begin a brick walkway, with engraved bricks to honor our veterans. Our sales will begin at the air show, for $50.00 each. Please feel free to contact us, if you want to order one.
Farm maintenance has been a big part of the work on the farm this month. Tractors needed work and equipment always needs updates and cleaning. John and George have teamed up to get things in good working order to keep things moving.
Looking forward to October, we are in the process of applying for a grant for transportation to the farm. When things are finalized, we will let everyone know. We are also having a Pig Roast at the Tavern in Winthrop Harbor, on Saturday, October 20th. Please mark your calendars now so that you won’t miss a great time!
Freedom Farm for Vets 