This Week on the Farm 10/11
It has been another beautiful week here on the farm. Cloudless days with a nice breeze and temps in the 70s are sure nice to work outside in, but they will soon be coming to an end. Temperatures are supposed to start dropping down into the 50s and 60s in the next couple of days. So far October has been unseasonably warm. We are ready for the cooler weather.
We made a lot of progress yesterday on various small projects. We finally finished shelling all of the black beans. It was one of those projects that kept getting pushed to the back of the list. We would work on it a little bit and then have to move onto something else before it got done. This spring we planted one pound of seed. We harvested twenty-two pounds. Yield probably would have been a lot higher if we had spent any time weeding the black bean plants. We are pretty happy with the yield considering we put very little into growing the plants.
We also removed irrigation equipment from the squash field. Later this afternoon we will take the rest of the irrigation equipment out of the summer squash/melon/ cucumber field. Then we can start discing and seeding the cover crop down in those two fields.
Yesterday morning we picked the rest of the ornamental gourds which are in your box this week. There are some really strange looking gourds this year. Some look like warty cucumbers and others look like the ghosts from Pacman. The majority of them would look awesome on a Green Bay Packer fan’s table. For those of you who are fans of other teams, we will let you know if we ever find blue or purple squash. We would be millionaires if we could develop those colors.
The garlic has been cleaned and is ready to be broken apart and planted for next year’s crop. There is a big difference in sizes among the garlic heads this year. Hopefully we have time to pay a little closer attention to it next year. I think we can improve on our weed and nutrient management schedules.
As I write this update, Tyler is at the doctor’s office. We called to check up on his shots and the last time he got a booster for tetanus was in 1991. Given our profession where you can come across a rusty nail or sharp end of old equipment, he thought it best to get his booster shot as soon as possible.
This afternoon we will hopefully have time to take down the shade cloth on the high tunnel. We are also going to harvest the potatoes for this week’s boxes.
Just a reminder that we have two more weeks of deliveries left. We ask that on your last pick up day that you bring some bags to transfer your produce into so that we may keep the blue totes for next year’s use. We will remind you again next week so don’t worry!