One Share Of Produce

We've had two days filled with rain which made harvesting really difficult today. Fortunately, we're taking this weekend off from the Farmer's Market, so we only had to harvest for our CSA shares. The shares looked so pretty and colorful that I decided to post a picture on the blog. The only things missing in the picture are fresh corn and a few bags filled with fresh herbs. Everything was so wet and the air was so cool, we didn't have to put any of the harvest into the giant coolers we usually fill every Friday. We ended the day slogging through the mud, wrestling beautiful red potatoes from the sloppy mud. We think our "eaters" (CSA members) are getting great value for their dollar - average share size is 20 to 25 lbs. per week of extremly fresh, naturally grown (can't say 'organic' since we're not certified!) produce. The cool, rainy weather makes harvesting really pleasant....the deep, sticky mud, not so much!

Great Help In The Garden

Friday's get a little hectic around here with all the harvesting that needs to get done. It's so nice to have help in the garden this year. We start picking veggies very early in the morning and try to be done before noon when it gets hot. If there are other things that need to be harvested, we're back at it in the evening when it begins to cool off. We're at the point now when we'll actually start harvesting on Thursday. There's just so much produce coming on that it's impossible to pick everything in just one day. Those 626 tomato plants and 1224 pepper plants are really starting to produce! This picture was actually taken on July 10th. Mark and Robin are doing a great job getting swiss chard and carrots ready to process.

Wish You Could Smell The Blossoms On This Tree!

Summer has finally arrived.....after a very rainy, cool, long spring.....and the Catalpa trees have burst into bloom. They have the heaviest bloom this year that we've ever seen and the smell is heady, especially in the evening. It makes working in the garden in the evenings even more pleasureable.

Our Family Has Grown

Our beautiful Great Pyranese dog, Max, died a year ago and we didn't think we'd ever get another dog. However, things don't always work out the way you thought they would! A friend who volunteers at the local animal shelter told us about a beautiful Anatolian Shepherd at the shelter and really encouraged us to go see her. She thought the dog would be perfect for us. We like large breed dogs and still have a very large outdoor kennel (which we'd taken down last year!) and two buried cable runs.It took us about two weeks of discussions before we went to see her. This breed has a reputation for being head strong and somewhat difficult as a family pet. My hope was that she would snarl at me or have a bad attitude and we could walk away feeling like we'd at least checked her out. I didn't really want to get another dog!

She turned out to be so sweet and gentle and good tempered! We visited her twice and then thought it over for a full 24 hours before calling the shelter and telling them we'd take her. They were so relieved! She was going to have to be euthanized because she'd been there so long - since 4/23/09 - and no one had been interested in her. They were running out of room. Turns out she was a favorite of the staff there because of her sweet temperment.

We've had her now for 3 days and discovered right away she'd been a house dog....NOT an outside dog! She's leash trained, obeys commands, is very well mannered in the house and house trained. She's been good with all our animals....sheep, alpacas and cats. She sleeps in her crate in the living room at night and isn't a "barker". She's got us wrapped around her paw now! We're all crazy about her and can't believe our good fortune in finding such a great dog! She seems grateful, too, at finding a loving home! So, welcome to our home Brandy! Hope we get to share many, many wonderful years with you!

Nearly Perfect Planting Weather!

Today's weather couldn't have been better for getting the last of the tomato seedlings out into the field. The corrugates were all in and some of the trellising system was installed, too. We use steel T-posts and rigid 16' fencing panels to trellis the tomato vines. We've found this system to be sturdy (even in high winds) and easy to harvest from. It's also very easy to fertilize and weed around the plants. As soon as they reach 10" in height, the suckers will be removed and the vine will be tied to the fence. That process will continue until they reach the top of the fence when the top of the vine will be removed preventing it from growing any taller. This will force the vine to ripen the fruit that's already set on the plant. Our growing season isn't long enough for the fruit above the top of the fence to ripen. So, with a cool, overcast day and a light, misting rain off and on, we were able to finish transplanting the last of the tom's to the field.....626 plants in all! We had 800+/- seedlings growing, but we discarded the weak ones as we went and repotted some of the extra cherry tomato plants to sell at the market. Our experience with cherry tomatoes has been that they can produce more than we can sell at times. The large tomatoes are always in demand especially for home canning and we've had no problem selling big quantities of them.

These three tomato rows have the steel T-posts in place and the rigid fencing hung on them. All the tomatoes have been planted, fertilized, mulched with grass clippings and watered. What a wonderful sight!

The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage was thirsty, too! Everyone needed a drink today. We've had really hot weather for this time of the year....that is up until today anyway!