July 8th

We’ve been picking tomatoes heavy for a few weeks now.  The Early Girls were the first the come, then an open pollinated (not Monsanto) version of Big Beef.  Now the heirlooms are rolling in: Pruden’s Purple, Cherokee Purple, Black From Tula, Striped German, and Green Zebra (not technically an heirloom, or so they say…whoever they are).

There are tons of fruit, quite literally, on the 650 or so tomato plants.  And a lot are ripening really well.  The total growth of the plants has been a little smaller than expected, so I have been out early in the mornings giving them a foliar feed of brix mix.  I think they really like the attention even more than the fertilizer.

Today it was 106 at the farm.  It’s surprising to me that it was that hot because it didn’t feel like it to me.  On days like this I eat very little (less calories = less internal heat production…try it sometime this summer) and drink a lot of water.  I end up working all day and feeling great - I wouldn’t have thought it over 90 if I didn’t look at the thermometer.

We just cut out our first patch of corn. It was really, really good.  It was a small patch, but very productive, for corn (which, by the way, has got to be the least economically efficient crop available to the small farmer).  The next few are bigger and I think they’ll be nice.

enjoy the heat,
andrew