I know, I know. It has been too long since I have last written. I am going to make every effort to write at least once a week. Because it has been so long, I am going to give you a quick overview of what has been happening on the farm.
We have been very busy trying to keep up with the harvesting. Our beans are coming on strong, our okra and cucumbers are literally growing faster than we can pick them, and our zucchini is, well, growing like zucchini. We are patiently awaiting the ripening of our tomatoes. There is a lot of fruit and blooms, and I can see the hues slowly changing from green to red, yellow, orange, and even a deeper green, but none are fully ripe yet. If this heat keeps up, I can't imagine it will take very long to enjoy my first tomato sandwich.
I will also let everyone know my biggest mistake so far this year. My cucurbit patch. Let me start by saying I did follow spacing instructions on the seed packet, despite Mother's pleas to plant them farther apart. I had every intention of thinning (removing all but the strongest plant) the patch. However, when the mouse ate all of the seeds on one half of the garden, I decided I better take all of the plants I could get. Wrong. What I have now is less of a patch and more of a jungle, similar to something you might encounter in a horror film. I have seen fruits, but the only way to really find them is to take a long stick and move some of the vines around. Because non have fully ripened, I have not made a final decision as to how I am going to navigate through my jungle in order to pick. In addition, the vines have grown so much they are threatening to take over the peppers and a few tomato plants. We pruned, crossing our fingers (kind of) that it did not kill the plants. But not to worry, the pruning made them that much stronger. Anyway, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not complaining about the vitality of our squash, pumpkins, and melons. I am merely taking note of what needs to be done differently in future years.
As for the rest of the garden, we are once again battling weeds after another round of rain in the part of the garden that did not get mulched. We are also getting ready to do some of our fall planting, though at this point it seems a little painful to start all over. But several of the fall crops sweeten after a frost so the thought of sugary brussels sprouts is getting me through. We also have some serious redeeming to do after our terrible spring pea crop.
The animals are doing well, although the turkeys have a vitamin deficiency we hoped to cure with garden produce, but may have to supplement with vitamins and something seems to have taken a few of our chickens. We reinforced their night time coop but I may have to rig up the live trap (cleverly deemed the tiger trap by my lovely husband.)
Our attempt at raising swallowtail butterflies was a smashing success. So far, 4 out 5 parsley worms have successfully transformed and been released and we are eagerly awaiting the hatching of our last chrysalis. My hope is to build a mini butterfly pavilion this winter.
This week is fair week and after CSA pickup we are taking Holden to his first tractor pull. We already have his cowboy boots and john deere shirt ready to go.
That is the long and short of what is happening on the farm. We appreciate your patience and can't wait to tell you what is happening....next week!
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