Stepping Up

Market List; Bunched Spicy Greens, Purslane, Pie Cherries, Garlic Scapes, Free Range Chicken Eggs and Duck Eggs, maybe a little Foragers Salad Mix. it's pretty hot. 

We get so many requests for our Lemon Cucumbers but after growing on the same ground organically for so many years, it's a tough battle to beat the cucumber beetles and stink bugs. So this year as Bill has been home more, traveling less and we have a little more wherewithal, we invested in some Insect barrier for them. This is the partial row, with a walk way through, the other side is about twice as long as this. About 100 ft. total. This row represents our second cucumber planting. The first being of course, in the new greenhouse.  

Below is a sample of what it looks like under the cloth. The idea being to keep the cucumber beetle from finding the plants before they need to be pollinated. And just a point, almost every other plant that can be seen in both picture are TOMATILLOS. 

We do have some baby cucumbers in the Greenhouse. Hopefully by next weekend. 

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Also, as we are planting by the Moon, today was supposed to be a good day to PLANT cucumbers, so while Mom was hilling up the ones under the cloth, I planted another, probably 75 ft. row. The last of the tomatoes will go into the ground this Monday. We had 2 ripe cherry tomatoes today, and all the vines look fab! As long as the blossoms don't drop in this heat, we'll be fine. So HOT. We're getting up at 5 to harvest the greens. Yes, I am frequently up by then but not by choice. 

The heat affects so many things: egg production has dropped from 45-60 eggs a day to tonight's 30. For some reason, it makes the hens broody. You'd think that the last thing on their minds would be sitting in a hot nest inside the barn but more and more are wanting to sit every day and 5 new ducks nests. I would like to move that trailer eventually. 

I'm hoping that everyone is finding us who wants to. Our new location is actually more accessible but we see only a few of our regulars each week, so in many ways, it's like starting over at a whole new market. It may be hot this Saturday(it will be) and we may be at the tail end of one sort of crop and the beginning of another but we will be there. I hope to see you soon. 

God's blessings on you and yours, 

TTFN, 

Sam and Billy