Wow, I'm Impressed

The rain, the rain, the RAIN!

                             Market List
               Spicy Stir Fry or Sauté Mix

 Kale, Chard, Beet, Lambs Quarter, Red Mustard and Watermelon Radish Greens

 Super Food Summer Salad Mix

 Arugula, Shallot Greens, Escarole, Lettuce, baby Kale and Lambs Quarter, Pea Flowers,
Sorrel and Purslane, Radish Flowers

 Eggs

Slow Food Grant Cayuga Duck Eggs and Chicken too. Remember, we switched to non GMO feed. Our birds are free range

Buy from us for a safer, richer egg

Garlic Scapes

 

  Tomato and Veggie Plants

28 varieties of Heirloom tomatoes, 4 Hybrids, Cucumber and Eggplant, Tomatillo and Serrano Peppers, All grown in organic potting mix using  only safe seed from Safe seed sources.

 There is still time to plant. I know we still are

 

Becca has been working for me for a couple of weeks now, midweek to help with all stuff farm related and brought a friend to help. Yesterday we got all the Life stuff done and got out into the garden to work and it came what can only be described as a gully washer. We tried to persist for a few minutes as we have been working in the rain and mud for the past few weeks but it was useless. I had greenhouse chores to do anyway so we ran in there to work. It was raining so hard that we had to yell at teach other to be heard and within minutes there was 5 inches of water standing in the greenhouse. I had to run to the house to put away a dog and there was about the same on the patio. It rained like this awhile and then slowed down. I was worried we wouldn't get the stuff done that I needed to do while we had help. After about an hour we were able to go back out to work.

 

We've been working on a new planting technique. After a workshop this winter on intensive planting in permanent raised beds, we started incorporating these ideas into our growing space. We were doing a bit of this already but vamped it up. This technique involves planting your stuff into permanent beds that are covered with landscape covers. After you lay your material, you go back and cut holes into it and plant. this cuts down on weed competition, makes your beds warmer and allows all the nutrition to go to the plants. You don't have to destroy your soil composition with tilling either. As you can see from this picture, although we are using some fabric, we are also using a lot of recycled materials. My friend go a bunch of advertising banners from his friend when Busch stadium was torn down. It's amusing to see the Cardinals advertisement, but not so much the Taco Bell one on the other end of the garden. Here is Becca cutting holes in an end row for tomatillo planting. Here our main weeds are Bermuda Grass, Lambs Quarter, Pigweed and Tomatillos. The Lambs Quarter we harvest for salads and cooking greens as it is 50 times more nutritious than spinach. When we weed, it's pulled up, the leaves are stripped for eating and the stems are fed to the sheep. The pigweed is a trap crop for cucumber beetles so we leave some of that but pull it before it seeds(hopefully). There are tons of tomatillos though from ones that fall to the ground in the fall and rot. When we till, they come back up in droves. Luckily they are a good food source but hard to keep in check. Hopefully this will help some with that. I don't wish to eradicate them but less would be better. I hate waste.

Here is Ellen pulling up Tomatillos for replanting in rows for easier harvesting. This is from just one section of the garden that was not yet covered.

Becca lost her shoes in this as you can see. That's the other thing about this, the raised beds and fabric allows us to work in our spaces even when wet. Our garden does have really good drainage but after a rain like yesterday, it was amazing that we could still plant. Tomatillos do not need as much nutrition or space(obviously) as tomatoes but they are hard to pick and not miss them if they are not upright so we planted them in dense rows on the cover.

There are 276 Tomatillo plants in this row alone and we have them planted everywhere.

Needless to say we were all covered with mud when we were done but it was a productive day. A lot of weeding was done and the Greenhouse organized. So I was not too impressed when my husband came home and stuck his feet in his waders and began complaining because they were damp on the inside. Seriously?

 

So that's the Scoop folks! We'll see you at the Market, Courtney will be back this week. The forecast is 81 degrees (no rain?!) and so listen for the call of Lemonade, Ice Cold Lemonade. Don't forget our Green Tea with Jasmine and Local Robin's Apiary honey.

 

God's Blessings on You and Yours,

 

TTFN

 

Sam and Bill