As always it’s been a busy week on the farm. More plants into the ground! Three beds of popcorn, the second round of sweet corn, the first bed of melons, more sunflowers were all planted as well as the sorghum being sown. Over the weekend our neighbor baled our hay field giving us about 200 square bales which we use to mulch between many of crops that will be growing most of the summer. With the help of a very strong worker member we were able to move and mulch all those bales where they need to be. It’s quite a lot of work, hot and itchy work. We are very grateful for the help. Now we can focus a little more in other areas, now that much of the open ground is now either covered with biodegradable mulch and/or mulch.
It’s been really dry out here, even with this storm this evening(Tuesday) we could use some more moisture in the soil. We’ve been irrigating out of our pond almost daily to keep everything growing. Our pond is spring fed and we’re pumping out more than is going back in. With a little rain, the pond will fill back up quickly, but we need a real rain.
Some exciting additions to the farm stand (soon there will be enough for your boxes as well) are summer squash, cucumbers, a little broccoli, and soon some blueberries. There’s just barely enough ripe berries down there to steal a few for breakfast. Vanessa even saw a ripening cherry tomato!
Some colorful lettuces. A beautiful Fairy Tale Eggplant plant. April mulching around the field tomatoes.
Ideas for Cooking
Kohlrabi, for those who have yet to experience it, are the purple balls with the greens attached. Peel the skin off and use raw, cut into whatever size pieces you prefer (great for dips, hummus, etc.) It can also be sauteed in a stir fry. It’s texture is very crisp. It’s taste is somewhat like that of broccoli, though it can be a tiny bit sweet.
Sour Cherries!
Vanessa has just made some sour cherry cordial for us to enjoy later in the year.
Lost of lettuce in the boxes. That’s the way of the farm sometimes. There’s going to be a lot of lettuce in the next week or more. There may be a break in the abundance, but our goal is have a some lettuce every week. It just so happens that this week a couple of plantings got ready a the same time.