Midsummer Happenings

Hi Everyone!
Well, it has been more than a week since I last posted.
Our granddaughter was in town and frankly, when
she is here, my life revolves around her! What a wonderful time we had!
But alas, time to get back to work, sort of. I am a bit laid up with
something, but it gives me the time to type this letter to you all.
EGG
PRODUCTION
First, we want to thank our CSA egg members for
their cooperation in taking a reduction in eggs. Your patience and
understanding are appreciated!

Our egg production is still down
but getting better. As you know, we lost five hens to a fox. Fixing some
netting seems to keep the egg pecking jays out. Some of the hens are
molting (losing feathers, which happens once a year) and all their
energy goes into
growing new feathers instead of eggs. This is hopefully coming to an
end, which means more eggs. Our nine chicks, which are now three months
old, will be laying in the next two-three months, which means more eggs
and more
color varieties. Can’t wait. BUT – we think two of them are roosters!
They are sexed when you buy them, but it is not 100% accurate. Maybe a
blessing in disguise. We learned that this Wellsummer breed rooster is
none other than the Kellogg rooster!  I have temporarily named him/her
“Kellogg.”  I am hoping the other one, a white Leghorn breed, is a hen.
When our neighbor’s Leghorn rooster came to visit, our Leghorn’s
“cackles” were all up. Hmmmm…. any name suggestions in case it she is a
rooster?

TOMATOES
Finally,
a few cherry tomatoes are ripening. We have tons of green tomatoes just
waiting for hotter weather to ripen. Here we have 175+ tomato plants,
and I have to go to the store to buy some to make our pico de gallo!
Makes me cringe!

OTHER VEGGIES
We have had some
great successes and some not so great. Our CSA plans have been
put on hold for now. We are not sure if we have enough variety at this
time. If you are still interested in getting,
say, a CSA package with  a lot of tomatoes and squash with some green
beans, occasional egg plant, basil, garlic, etc, then let us know. Check
out our CSA info on our website. We will also take bulk orders of tomatoes
for canning,etc, at reduced cost for orders over 10 lbs.

A VISITOR
We
always have animals wandering on our property, from the neighbors dogs,
hens, chicks, a rooster to now, a pregnant miniature horse! She showed
up when our granddaughter was here, so we got a photo op done just
before the owner arrived.(see attached)
TO WRAP IT UP…
All
in all it has been a learning experience, and we are especially pleased
with our tomato crop. Hopefully you will see a few cherry tomatoes this
Sunday. We are currently parking ourselves at the church back porch, as
many like the easy access and – the top is not available due to
electrical work.
 See you Sunday!

HELLO TO SUMMER!

Our son Nathan work on the pole beans

As the summer season starts, it is a pleasure to stroll the garden and see how things are growing. Our squash seems to grows by the minute.The bee attracting wildflowers are just gorgeous, and the green, purple and yellow beans are taking off. This is our first time growing kohlrabi,
from the broccoli family, and it has been very successful. This funny
looking plant is best peeled and sliced and eaten raw with a bit of salt
or put in salads. It has a subtle flavor, much
like the cabbage heart. Rutabagas are wonderful, even in the summer. They are not as sweet as when grown in the winter,
but still delicious. “Easter Egg” radishes are
available, coming in colors from red, purple, pink to white (ping pong
radish). The leaves got nibbled on, but this does not affect the radish
flavor at all.
   
Garlic has been harvested and is now drying for a few weeks. I made the mistake of leaving them in the ground til all the leaves dried up (like you do for onions). This causes the bulbs to split and they don’t have the leaf sheaves to form the wrappers around the garlic head. They are still good to eat. How will I remember this for next year? G – Green  G – Garlic. Leaves still have to have some green in Garlic. THAT’S how I remember things!

There are 175 tomato and tomatillo plants,
( approx.20+ varieties) are 
thriving in a field that was once an animal pen. With years of manure,
these fields are nutrient rich.  Hopefully they will be ripe in the next
few weeks! We will have tons of tomatoes for canning and eating, from big
to cherry sizes, as well as a variety of colors.The eggplants are thriving, with blossoms just starting. The cukes have just been transplanted, and hopefully soon we will have lots of eating and pickling types. Corn is finally in the ground and growing; a bit of a late start but not too late! The lettuce
is now gone and we SHOULD have had other plants growing by now, but we
sometimes get too busy and that is where taking notes for
next year will help! New seedlings are growing in the greenhouse now.

A
good portion of the squash, peppers and basil
just did not grow, as well as some other crops. It is sometimes a
mystery and trying to figure it out takes education, trial and error, or
success. You learn to not be too disappointed and just move on!

The fox was back this
week, and we have lost another three hens. That makes five total. We
are down to 22 hens and 9 pullets (“teen aged,” not yet laying). We are
now letting them free range in a very large backyard area behind their
coop.We give them lots of veggie scraps as well as their laying food. It
is enclosed with chicken wire and, so far, we have lost no more. Darryl
did see a fox prowling the outside of the coop one morning this week,
but it could not get in.

For our Farmer’s Market people, I have been out of town, again, so I am getting this letter out late. Tomorrow we hope to have available:
green onions
beets
squash
green, purple and yellow beans
rutabagas
kohlrabi
kale
maybe some cilantro and basil

See you then!