Monday, June 29, 2009

A John Deer Gator sure comes in handy. The boys are mulching the fence area.
Let's go boys, still a lot left in that pile!
90+ degrees sounds like the perfect time for an old-fashioned water bucket toss. Aaron really enjoyed getting wet after working all day.
Trellis for muskmelons, patty pans in front.
new herb bed being planted with French Tarragon.
Mushroom soil, wood chips and sand perform various functions on the farm.
Cherry Toms
Some of our market stand
Rain and sun produced BIG zukes!

Just a few pics. Your veggies are growing nicely now that we have plenty of sunshine. Well I must get off the computer and into the field. As you can see there are weeds everywhere and more planting needs done ASAP if we are going to keep those crops coming.

Friday, June 26, 2009

84* In The Shade

Scorching temps slowed harvest to a crawl. Zuke picking proved particularly steamy. Spiny stems were scratching my arms raw and the leaf canopy trapped all the heat and moisture. The day's extreme weather taxed roofers, mailmen, landscapers, basically anyone who had to work outside.

Crops picked :

Fantasia Chard
Red cabbage
Striped Zukes
Golden Patty Pans
Genovese Basil
Sorrel
Pea Tendrils
Gallisse Lettuce
Rosemary
German Thyme
Kale, (not much)
Garlic
Beautiful Roc D'or gold filet beans did not get picked, sorry, next week?

I wanted to take some pics but the camera would have slid right out of my dripping palm. We wear disposable gloves for harvest and my hands were wet when I removed them-Yuk! Pretty much everything was soaked with sweat, except the veggies! Seriously, we do not drip sweat on your produce Ah, the joys of farming............

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

I Won't Mention The Rain We Had This Week!!

It is true. Saturday it poured the entire market. Some stuff to accomplish this week:

Build more A frame trellises for melons, 6 more 8'x8' folding A frames
Stake and tie tomatoes
Install grape posts and cross supports, decide between wire or electrical conduit
Finish electric fencing
seeding, seeding and more seeding
transplanting hundreds of flowers, herbs, melons & cukes
prep more planting beds
finish a rather embarrassing stack of paperwork
WEEDING, we are drowning in weeds from all the rain
Figure out what is wrong with the Solo sprayer and fix it (organic sprays!)
laundry and dishes squeezed in there somehow

The list never ends. I will post pictures as soon as I can

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Mud, Rain and No Sun

More rain. Again. I must be positive and think how awful the alternative, a drought, would be! I have several embroidery jobs to finish, and since field work is out of the question, it is a fine day to work in. Red cabbage is heading, summer squash is plumping, greens are leafier. An A-Frame trellis wears climbing muskmelons. Potatoes are bursting with floral fireworks and potato beetles. BUT....Rain gives repeat performances almost daily. What is a farmer to do??? I hope it will be dry tomorrow morning for harvesting.

The transplants are stuck in flats. Not good. Cloudy days make me drowsy, perhaps I'll take a"power nap". Sleep deprivation causes sewing errors so maybe a nap is justified.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Endless Rain....repeat!

Another week of PRECIPITATION, water vapor, droplets, deluge, flood, cloud saturation blah,blah,blah. Still, the drought is a more fearsome foe. Fieldwork gone missing, seeding schedules washed away and transplanting under water..............all for the love of rain. We don't want to complain. But, for the grower too much rain is a pain. Some farmer's suffered insult to injury with a side of 2 1/2" hail to complement the main rainfall.

Rot is a major consequence of too much moisture. Insects and disease want their piece of green. All bets are off for the coming week, photosynthesis take a number! Market was ok. I salvaged lettuces, and CSA members had an ok share, certainly not what I would prefer for early June.

To the future of chlorophyll and sunlight, Here Here!! (Course then grousing about the heat will take over)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Endless Rain

Puddles everywhere.
Aaron suiting up for harvest during last Friday's deluge.
Aaron at the end of his work day, too much heat and humidity to suit him!


After 3 days of no rain, here we are again! Baritone rumbling woke me up, rattled windows and sent Max into hiding. I found him in the bathroom, determined to stuff himself between the wall and toilet. Poor dog. He hates thunderstorms.

It let up around 11:00 so we headed out to transplant tomatoes and peppers. Yesterday was very hot and muggy, plenty of sun blasting down, not good conditions for setting plants. Instead we weeded, mostly those dastardly thistles. Anyway, we worked for less than an hour and the clouds resumed their symphony with rain. Lots of rain. End of transplanting.

Tomorrow is another fruit day on the biodynamic planting calendar, so we will try again. Oh! the weather, no wonder it's in the "Top Ten" of farmer conversations.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Boot Sucking Mud, All Day Rain

Here are two Colorado Potato Beetles making more little CPB. Aaaarrrrggghhh!!!
Lettuce, and of course weeds.
Gold patty pan squash are here!

Red Express cabbage is coming along slowly but surely
Baby Bush zucchinni
Forellenschluss lettuce, a beauty. The above photos were taken before the rain.

So.............how muddy was it??? We can testify to the power of mud. It will pull off your shoe which is why I bought a pair of tight fitting, knee high rain boots. Slogging between rows of lettuce while steady rain saturated our clothing made harvesting less than pleasant. Harvest does not wait for suitable picking conditions. Market dictates harvest, and CSA members want their share. Almost 2" of rain fell Thursday and Friday. For the precipitation impaired, that is a lot of rain.

Today proved gorgeous and market was lively with a good crowd. Despite the cold, wet, unkind Spring, the vegetables are growing. I simply put one foot in front of the other and keep on planting. There have been some flats that died and the pests are devouring what they can reach. Perseverance is the only response.