This Week on the Farm 8/28
It has been another beautiful week to work on the farm. Cool mornings give way to bright sunny afternoons. We did get rain this week, so thankfully we didn’t have to go out and irrigate. The next couple of days are supposed to be in the upper 80s to mid 90s. The tomato and pepper plants will love that weather!
In non-weather related news, it was a rather frustrating morning on Tuesday. We were all set to start direct seeding, but the tractor wouldn’t start. Tyler ended up chasing all over the county trying to find a part, only to have the newly purchased part break because that wasn’t what was causing the issue. He did finally get the right piece and now the tractor seems to be working better than before. One of those instances of live and learn, I guess.
Still, the delay puts us behind schedule by a couple of days since we won’t have a chance to do field work until this Friday. Thankfully with our new 3pt tiller it doesn’t take as long to do the seeding as it did in the past.
We are thinking about purchasing a 3pt mower to help keep the roads and weedy areas under control. It would even help in areas that are planted to a cover crop in the spring that we need to work in the fall. If we mow before we till it cuts down on the amount of stuff that gets wrapped around the tiller. We have had to borrow a mower twice from one of our CSA members, and we just need to bite the bullet and get one ourselves. Date night this week may be spent buying a mower. We farmers lead very romantic lives during the growing season!
We spent the early part of the week weeding the peppers and the eggplant. The peppers were growing so close together that we couldn’t get the walk-behind tiller in between the rows, so all of that had to be weeded by hand. The eggplant plants grow upright enough that we could just squeeze through. My arms are very tired from running the tiller, but it was well worth it to see cleaner rows.
We should mention that our peppers tend to be much hotter than what you find in the grocery store. We don’t irrigate our peppers, so the flavor tends to be extremely concentrated. Even our green bells have a little bit of a zing to them. If you receive jalapeños in your box, you have been warned! A little goes a long way, especially if you like milder flavors.
Our fall planting of beans are already starting to flower! So far we are really happy with how they are turning out. Even if they produce only half as much as a spring planting we will be thrilled. The snow peas in that same field are also coming up well. In the next week or so I need to spend time putting up the trellises again. With all of our help going back to school, we need all of the time saving tricks we can think of!
The last episode that Tyler and I are featured in for the Eat Local series went live today. You can check it out the link on our facebook page, or check your email since I sent out a link. It turned out really well. We were both afraid that it would be really cheesy since it is all about “us,” but they did a fantastic job. We are super grateful to Monty’s Blue Plate Diner for picking us as their featured local supplier, especially given the fact we haven’t been able to supply them with much this season due to the drought!
Remember to mark your calenders for our harvest potluck on September 23 from 12N to 6PM. We will have food and tours of the gardens. Bring a small dish to pass and meet your fellow CSA members for an afternoon of fun on the farm. We will have pick your own pumpkins and gourds available and our dog Wash will provide entertainment for the kids. Let us know by September 20th if you will be coming so we make sure to have enough food.