It was a very welcome rain that we received on the weekend!

The entire farm is looking & feeling refreshed. Vegetables, berries & trees, birds & animals – and us!

At least 35mm fell, and was immediately absorbed by the dry ground. The plants seemed to perk up and green up overnight.

A new planting of beans & sunflowers that I seeded about a week ago and watered & watered, popped up!

With the ground being moist, I was able to cultivate the squash & pumpkins. They are beginning to send out runners & spread so I won’t be able to get in again without damaging the plants. Then I seeded a cover crop over them. It will germinate & grow, together with the squash (& also the weeds). Later this fall after the squash is harvested there will hopefully be a nice green crop of vetch remaining. It will continue to grow until frost & then die over the winter, but provide cover & protection for the soil until spring. When we work it in it will provide nitrogen for the next vegetables.

There are plenty of trays of seedlings growing and waiting for their time to be transplanted into the ground – lettuce, bok choy, assorted herbs, fall cabbages, green onions, beets …

Elsewhere on the farm, the garlic harvest has begun. The garlic plants have started to brown up which means it’s time to pull them.

They are brought into the barn & stacked on racks where they will dry for a few weeks. Then we’ll trim & clean them and the garlic will be ready to enjoy!

What’s in the box?

Tomatoes, baby kale, kohlrabi, green onions, lettuce, beets, new garlic,

green beans – Tuesday only. 

• The tomato plants are outdoing themselves with blossoms & little tomatoes. And now we can see ripening fruit – on the larger tomatoes as well as the cherries & smaller ones. The rain will certainly give them a boost & production should increase rapidly! Last year at this time the plants were already showing disease & declining in vigor due to the hail we received. We’re excited that they are healthy & flourishing this season!
• Baby kale is exactly that – kale that is picked young & small. This makes them more tender & mild and they can be used fresh & without cooking. We prefer them in a salad with kohlrabi & green onions. Add broccoli if you desire and dried cranberries & almonds and top with a poppyseed dressing. Delicious!
• I had been watering the latest lettuce patch too, trying to keep it growing & renewing and tasting great. Of course the rain does a much better & more effective job than I ever could.
• The beets will still see the effects of the dry weather. They continue to be small – but tasty!.
• Enjoy the fresh garlic. Remember that it is not dried, so use it quickly once you break it open. Or let it air dry in the open, to be used later.
• Our next planting of beans is behind due to the dry & hot weather. Lots of blossoms but no beans yet. Tuesday pick up will get the last of the old bean patch – but there will be none for Friday or our market CSA boxes on Thursday. But there will be something else instead. Maybe zucchini, or carrots or …

 

Those of you that visit the baby chicks when you pick up your share, will find them outside now – enjoying the grass & weeds and just being outdoors. Sage enjoys them too, spending a lot of her time “babysitting”.