Tomatoes and cucumbers are growing well in the heat of the greenhouse. We’ll get these cukes trellised this weekend. The tomatoes are strung up on old baling twine that’s zig-zagging from nails in the rafters to pegs in the dirt. The greenhouse is serving us well, but needs attention, we haven’t finished cobbing the north wall. It’s on the list.
Vegetables in the back field are growing, setting fruit. Some things stronger than others. Our no-till system is demanding an incredible amount of weeding, mainly hand ‘mowing’ the quack grass between the beds. Mulching with pulled weeds is working well to slow new weed growth. And we have lots of pulled weeds to mulch with. Although not always obvious, the weeding situation is, at this point, easier this year than it was last year.
Flowers are brilliant right now. Everyone is enjoying them.
Garlic is (mostly) all harvested and hanging to cure, grapes are blushing, and the tomatoes continue to tease us with glorious, green fruit.
Eggplant, tomatillos, and crookneck squash are coming along. (disclaimer: this is the biggest eggplant in the field right now, the absolute, most heavy-yielding summer squash plant, and the largest tomatillo in the history of salsa verde – not representative samples of our crop right now, but certainly the most photogenic).
We’ve included pick-your-own herbs in the CSA shares these past couple weeks. The most recent newsletter is posted online here. The herb bed is new this year and we’ve been learning a lot watching them grow. We have both culinary herbs and medicinal/tea herbs. Here’s a list: sage, marjoram, thyme, oregano, lovage, tarragon, shiso, holy basil, anise mint, chamomile, lemon balm. Calendula, borage and bee balm are in there too, for the bees. The best part is getting to hear what people decide on, what they make. Lemon balm butter on fish. Anise mint in spring rolls. Tarragon pesto. And the “oh, I’ve never used that before, I’ll take some of that.” SO GOOD. Thank you CSA members – you are wonderful.
And lastly, we are having a Tea Party / Weeding Party this Sunday, August 11th – please join us! We’ll be weeding beds in the back field, rescuing kale, eggplants, chard – and it’s infinitely more fun to work with friends! Bring gloves, if you prefer, and wear comfortable, farm-fiesta attire that you don’t mind getting dirty. Bring your friends and family, this will be a good chance to spend time together, get to know your neighbors, visit the farm, nuzzle baby eggplants… We’ll have several different varieties of farm-grown herbal iced teas for you to sample, create your own blends. We look forward to seeing you on the farm!
Cycle Farm 