Sunday, July 28, 2013

2013 Season, week 11

July 27, 2013

This week's harvest:
Assorted Tomatoes
Sweet Corn
Green Roma Beans
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Potatoes
Basil
Onions
Garlic
Carrots

This week's farm news:

The cooler weather this week made for very pleasant days. And the abundant rain we've had made for some very happy garden weeds! So there was a bit of crop rescuing that had to be done this week! Eric tackled his precious fall carrot crop, tediously crawling along to remove the carpet of weeds from the young carrots. He is determined to have abundant carrots for the fall and winter. Jesse and Hannah made the strawberry patch shine. They weeded the entire patch and then laid down a layer of straw mulch, so it looks lovely. Now, if we can just get the deer to leave it alone, we'll be in good shape for next spring!

Other garden work of the week was hilling up the acorn, spaghetti, and patty pan squashes, and the muskmelons. Eric planted even more carrots (I'm telling you, he is determined!) and he turned under a big patch of cover crop in preparation for fall gardens... We'll be setting transplants within the next few days!

And, finally, we had a new calf born this week. That puts the count up to 7 heifers and 2 bulls for this year. Pretty exciting.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

2013 Season, week 10

July 20, 2013

This week's harvest:
Potatoes
Onions
Tomatoes
Green Beans
Cilantro
Basil
Cucumbers
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Rainbow Carrots
Choice between: Zucchini, Lettuce, Eggplant, or Okra

This week's farm news:

First of all, don't forget that tomorrow is our swimming/potluck party here at the farm between 1-6 pm. We hope you can make it! See our website for directions.

On the farm this week, two very big projects were accomplished. First, we harvested our onions for storage and have them curing in our greenhouse. Second, we dug our potato crop. And we were kind of in a hurry to get them out of the ground because rain was headed our way. So Eric and I, and Jesse and Hannah, grubbed and sweated and got really dirty and sunburned and grubbed and sweated some more. We did have the new potato plow on the tractor this year, which made the whole process much more manageable. But if you happen to catch us yawning and looking a little bleary-eyed, you'll know it was for a very good cause... Ahhh, potatoes!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

2013 Season, week 9

July 13, 2013

This week's harvest:
Sweet Corn
Tomatoes
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Cilantro
Basil
Green Beans
Choose between: Squash, Eggplant, and/or Zucchini
Garlic
Onions - free choice
Rainbow Carrots
Cucumbers

This week's farm news:

What amazing weather we're having. I can hardly believe it's July. I'm sitting on the deck right now and almost have a chill. Wow. The rain this week was something else. Several intense storms rolled through the farm, leaving the streams and creeks high and, at times, raging. But no damage, thankfully.

Let's see... This week in the garden Jesse & Hannah caged and staked the late tomatoes. Eric had a tiny window of time in the garden to get some tractor cultivation accomplished. Otherwise, we kind of had to stay out of the mud and watch the rain come down.

And I want to remind all of you CSA shareholders that next Sunday, July 21 (from 1-6), will be our CSA potluck (& swimming party) here on the farm. We'll give a little tour of the gardens, visit the chickens & livestock, and this year, Jesse and Hannah are eager to show off the beginnings of their quaint little homestead. For more info, pick up a flyer from our market table! We hope to see you here!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

2013 Season, week 8

July 6, 2013

This week's harvest:
The first Tomatoes of the season!
Basil
Yellow Beans
Yellow Squash
Zucchini
Eggplant
Red Cabbage - medium shares
Dill
Cucumbers
Garlic
Onions - Walla Walla Sweet
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
And a Peach as a treat!

This week's farm news:

The farm is completely and totally saturated right now! The rain just keeps coming and coming! My goodness! We did manage to get a few things seeded in the gardens before the deluge... We planted a couple of different varieties of winter squash (Thelma Sanders Acorn & Spaghetti), muskmelons, and parsnips. Jesse and Hannah were able to get some cultivation work in before everything turned sopping wet. They cultivated the butternuts, Indian corn, and pumpkins and also hand-weeded the ginger. In the greenhouse, we have started the very beginnings of fall crops: celery, leeks, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. It's hard to believe fall planting is already upon us! The seasons just go right on by!

Because of the very wet soil conditions in the garden, we spent a good deal of our time indulging in the fruits of our labors... Fresh peaches and tomato sandwiches were the favored foods of the week.