So I’ve been holding down the ‘fort’ this last week and for this next week as Jared is on a tour. Before he left we tried to get as much done as possible, since while Jared’s gone, it’s a lot harder to get forward progress accomplished when I’m all by myself. Last week the Puget Sound region had record breaking heat in the high 90s-low 100s, which, by comparison to other parts of the country will make me sound like kind of a wuss, but we hardly ever see that kind of heat. It was really hard to get anything done in the middle of the day, which was very hard for me. The last couple of days have been much better, and I’ve gotten some help from a few of our CSA members, Tea, and Kristin, our faithful helper, Tammie, and Carley, another community member who contacted us to come lend a hand. I would not be able to get all this done without  these ladies help, so (if you’re reading this) thank you very much! We’ve accoplished some weeding, some harvesting and some transplanting together this last week. The weeds love the heat, so they’re pretty much at my throat right now (metaphorically speaking, thank god) so having help getting them out is much needed. The squash, tomatillos, and cucumbers are all coming on strong, and the tomatoes are ramping up. So far we’ve only had enough for the CSA, but should be able to start having them at the market soon. We’re also trying to get all of the space vacated by harvested lettuce, broccoli, beets and herbs with all of our summer seed starts.

Jared and I also separated the hens and roosters before he left, and I have had a time trying to keep the roosters away from those hens! almost every day I find a rooster lurking outside their fence, and occasionally find hens over by the roosters. I’ve been taking the chance to clip their wings though! I’ve gotten quite good at doing it all by myself, which I’d never thought I’d be able to do, woo! The ducks have also been laying eggs, I’d say anywhere from 4-8 every morning!

Alright, time for me to get back to work!

This week has been cooler.  I have been experiencing some writers block lately, but let me give a brief update.   Our first tomatos have been eaten and they are good.  We are heavy into bean, cucumber and squash picking.  The chard is going through a strong dose of powdery mildew, but the kale keeps rocking it without any aphid activity.  The squash bugs and beetles are gaining a foothold in some of the oldest squash. We’ve planted about 1.25 acres of winter squash and are starting our… Read the rest of this article »

Man is it windy today!  My farm is just a couple miles from the ocean as the crow flies, with a small row of sand dunes and a whole bunch of flat land in between.  It’s generally pretty windy here from winter all the way through June, but today is exceptional.  A good day to test the greenhouses (so far, so good). It’s tiring to be out working in the wind all day (and colder, too), and it makes me wonder how the plants take it.  Some other farmers in the area have equally windy fields,… Read the rest of this article »

 I didn’t realize it, but, we had a lot of cucumbers for the market today.  It was a surprise.  I’m looking forward to re-juicing the CSA with the cucs.  We tried celery at the market today.  Some sold.  I cut individual stalks, not the whole plant, so a lot of shoppers didn’t even know that it was celery.  So, I realize that it must be labeled very well in the future.  Also, it is a lot darker green than store celery, so…yeah.  I like it.  I guess that counts for… Read the rest of this article »

Now we have completed week nine of the CSA.  This week we offered: tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, squash, carrots, lettuce mix, turnips, garlic, sweet corn!, kale and bulbing fennel. It was a good week, and next week is looking great also, with potatoes and leeks on the menu.  It seems a little out of season to have potatoes and leeks, because I love potato-leek soup a lot, but, hey, those will be ready. Out at the farm, the tomatoes are really productive, yet could be looking better. … Read the rest of this article »

So much has changed in the past 5 months. Of course the physical layout of the farm has changed dramatically…going from virgin meadow to cover crop to intense/intensive vegetable cultivation.  Alike, my mind is wrapping around and becoming comfortable with the ever-changing dynamic of the farm. We have completed six weeks of the CSA, a quarter of the season, with 18 more weeks to go.  We have had broccoli every week, buy now that we are approaching consistent mid-90 degree temps at… Read the rest of this article »

The broccoli has been great and in full effect for the last few weeks.  We are doing heavy pickings from the main heads and side shoots, with lots more coming. The first two plantings of cauliflower have failed, due to (a) gophers (b) freak super-cold snap at the end of april (c) freak super hot spell (100 degrees for 5 straight days) in mid May, which caused the curds to separate and be no good.  The third is looking good and hope to have that. In the future I don’t want to grow… Read the rest of this article »

So, for the last time, I think we’ve turned the corner into frost-free weather…now? Who knows. I sure don’t.  We had another frost…a hard frost - 34 degrees on Tuesday night.  The forecast called for 40 degrees. What a surprise.  Nothing was covered.  Not the tomatoes, not the peppers, not the eggplant, nor zucchini, cucumbers, more tomatoes.  So, to summarize, we didn’t lose anything!!! My heart was in a ball as I got out to the farm a little… Read the rest of this article »

Well, after the freeze, we haven’t looked back.  We’ve been planting out peppers, eggplant - we even put out zucchini and cucumbers today. We’ve direct-seeded beans, planted out basil.  We’ve just gone to town with the summer stuff, and the cool weather stuff is just maturing. I am pushing the season.  I’m sure this is a classic first-year, wet-behind-the-ears mistake, but it is working so far The tomatoes are growing like gang-busters (assuming “gang-busters”… Read the rest of this article »