Skills. . .

One of the things that Jeremy and I want to make sure we accomplish with our employees this summer is to teach them life skills. Each week, after we harvest lettuce, we take the Styrofoam rafts the lettuce grows in and we pressure wash them before we replant. We had employees who had never used a pressure washer. So, this became a learning opportunity for them. They’ve learned a new task that is necessary for the work we do at the farm - yet, there are lots of places and future opportunities where knowing how to pressure wash can be valuable. It’s the small things that can make a big impression.

Another thing we’re wanting to teach our employees is the act of giving. One of the things that I’ve consistently told them is the importance of making sure we pick the right produce and prepare the lettuce as best we can because we are selling these items to customers and we want to insure that we’re doing it to the best of our ability while providing the best produce we can. This week we ended up with some extra lettuce that needed to come out of the system. When I explained that we would be giving this lettuce to the Dorothy Day Soup Kitchen - that got them talking. We’ve been blessed at Growing JOY and when we can bless others - we want too. It’s all about spreading JOY!

In case you didn’t know: this week has been a hot one! We’ve begun to pick okra and green beans and late this afternoon I saw the first red tomato. Hopefully the next few days will usher in some new produce that has been long awaited.

Stay cool. Stay dry. Stay healthy. Have a great weekend.

J&J