This week we’ve been devoting a lot of energy to keeping the plants, the chickens and the farmers hydrated. All those pop-up thunderstorms in the forecast must be popping up somewhere else!
Things that don’t mind the hot weather include okra, eggplant, and the dragonflies. Every morning and evening they come out in great numbers. Hundreds of dragonflies helicopter around at head-height in the soft light. They have just appeared within the last week and it is a magical sight. I hope they are eating mosquitoes! Randy has also been reporting bat sightings when closing up the chicken coop at night.
Last week we put shade cloth on the greenhouse and on Monday started seedling broccoli and cabbage for fall and winter. Soon we’ll be starting beets and next year’s leeks in the greenhouse, and fall beans and carrots out in the field.
In continuing to build our mechanical cultivation capacity (using the tractor for weeding), we got some new tools this week! These “scratchers” get pulled behind the rear wheels and help keep pathways between beds clean. Randy fixed them up for a test run Thursday evening.
I have also been continuing my farmer education. Did you enjoy your luscious tomatoes from Gracious Gardens? On Wednesday Peter gave me a tour of the place complete with abundant and varied fruit trees and bushes and gorgeously lush tomato plants. We just walked around plucking things from trees and bushes and eating – a peach, plum, blueberries, grapes, raspberries, mulberries…it is the Garden of Eden. There were, however, just a few tomato plants sprawling and sun-scalded on the ground. I did feel a little better about myself when I saw that. Thursday was a trip to Gardens OyVey so Diane Meucci could teach me how to take blueberry cuttings. Blueberries are slow growing – cuttings this year may mean fruit in 2016.
