Bruschetta

Yesterday was much cooler, and quite pleasant. I went out for a lovely lunch with Laura, and showed her how to move and edit pictures on her laptop. I was sort of ahead on my files, so I took the rest of the afternoon off.

I made a small loaf of bread (half the rolls recipe, with the other half going for hamburger buns), then sliced it lengthwise and broiled it until it was toasty. I peeled a whole head of garlic (from RickC's yard) and munched it up with olive oil, then drizzled that liberally over the toasted bread. Then I sliced it, wrapped it up, and brought it over to the farm.



Now all we needed was ripe tomatoes and fresh basil. Here RickC demonstrates proper harvesting technique.



Then everyone just built their own bruschetta. Mmmm summer in a slice.



I also planted some more seeds: 6 fennel, 6 parsley and 3 more broccoli. Now I'm just waiting for the seeds I ordered to arrive.

Is It Fall Yet?

No, it isn't fall yet. In fact, it's hot as blazes. But, it IS time to start seeds for fall crops. So, I ordered a nice selection from Park Seeds, and started a few that I already had. Here's what I ordered:

5189 Mustard Southern Giant Curled
5619 Mustard Red Giant
5836 Broccoli Belstar Hybrid Organic
5839 Cauliflower Cassius Hybrid Organic
5080 Carrot Sweetness II Hybrid
5888 Organic Lettuce 'Rouge Grenobloise'
5914 Organic Lettuce Blushed Butter Cos
5158 Lettuce Green Ice
5140 Kale Redbor Hybrid
5837 Chinese Cabbage Kaboko Hybrid Organic
5068 Cabbage Sweet Surprise Hybrid
5066 Cabbage Cairo Hybrid (red)




I planted fennel, chervil, parsley, and packman broccoli. Then yesterday, I planted another tray full (15 pots) of everlast cabbage. Sycamore bark makes good plant markers!

We tried eating one of the watermelons. It looked ripe, but it really wasn't.



Both Ricks show how tall the corn is.



And the huge tomatoes from my backyard really fill a sandwich! What a perfect BLT!



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What We're Eating

(Besides BLTs and salsa)

This "bread" is really a cake, as it's quite sweet. I cut the amount of sugar and oil to make it healthier and more palatable.

Zucchini Bread

3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teasp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teasp ground cinnamon
1 teaspon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teasp salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325
Grease and flour 2 loaf pans
Beat eggs, mix in oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla.
Mix dry ingredients and add to egg mixture.
Put in pans and bake 60-70 mins.

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Buddy BD

Yesterday was Buddy's birthday, so we had to go make him drink a bunch of beer. Billy made him a card and we all signed it. Then we drank a bunch of beer!

Catherine displays excellent farming technique here. Notice the comfortable seat in the shade. Note the proper bottle grasp: high on the neck so as not to warm the beer, but comfortably rested on her knee. But best of all, although you can't see it in this shot, she's watching someone else work!



Look how tall the beans are now! This picture is about a week later than the one in the last post.



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Blossom End Rot

We've been having a problem with blossom end rot in the tomatoes. I checked some references, and the basic problem is low calcium uptake in the growing plant. This can be exacerbated by uneven watering, too rapid growth, or fertilizers high in ammonia-based nitrogen. This is best prevented (by adding lime to the soil at planting time) rather than treated, but it can be helped by watering deeply, pruning, and using compost tea instead of commercial fertilizers. Sources also said it tends to be worst on the first fruits, so it may get better by itself.

The Big Mama hybrids were the worst hit, and our analysis is that those aren't a good choice for our area. However, we all agree that the Sweet Tangerine hybrid tomatoes are a winner, and we'll plant those again.

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This shows the borage and dill we planted down row 6. They are not only pretty and useful, but the flowers also draw pollinators.



This is the galia melon, which I haven't eaten before, but which is supposed to be one of the most delicious. I think a couple of the watermelons are almost ripe.



And! I have a baby pumpkin!



Yeah, I know some of these photos are a little out of focus, but by the time it was shady enough to shoot, we were all pretty out of focus.

What bounty! I need to get cooking. I'm going to make tomato salsa and zucchini bread.



Also, I didn't get a shot of it, but RickC and I went around the back fence and harvested a TON of grapes. We ate all we could, and took the rest home to share.

Good to Be Back

We're back from our trip, and back to farming. Fortunately, at this point, the farming mostly consists of sitting around with cold beers.

Everything has grown up a lot. Here's what the beans looked like a couple of days ago.



The melons are quite happy. The cantelopes are showing the characteristic netting.



And the honeydews are growning fat.



And the watermelons are positively reptilian.



The corn is fully tassled.



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Weather Note
After some more moderate weather, it hotted up again the end of last week. We had a few days of 103-104, so when yesterday registered 90 in the shade, we were exuberant.
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As soon as we got back, I had to start processing my share of the tomatillos. I made a big bowl of green salsa from these.



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What We're Eating

Green salsa

10 tomatillos
1 jalapeno
1 serrano
1/4 onion
clove or two of garlic
salt
lime juice
cilantro

Boil the tomatillos for about 5 mins. They turn a more olive green.
Drop them in the blender with the other ingredients and pulse until smooth.

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Of course, a lot of the produce doesn't even make it to the kitchen. Yesterday, we picked and ate this:



Mmmmm


The heat makes the cold tub even more critical. The tub itself gets hot enough to warm a small amount of water. The view from the tub is lovely.



Looking up from the tub is even more magical.

Off We Go

Rick and I take off for the Oregon coast for a few days starting super early tomorrow morning. We know ya'll will be tending ... er... drinking beer at the farm faithfully while we're gone.

Besides farming, we've been partying over the last few days.

Delina and Diana had a great 4th of July party.

Here the cooks conspire.



To grill the perfect bird. These are being smoked over homegrown applewood chips.


We played croquet. Rick almost beat me but I eked out a win against... neophytes and kids. Here the gang hangs out after the game.



Then we did tacos with Karen and Glen, featuring some of the first Anaheims from the garden. Here's some of the food laid out.



Rick and Glen did the grilling.



Ok, back to the farm.

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Weather Note

It's been just about perfect, for July. Highs in the 90s with a breeze, and cooler temperatures at night. Moon was full last night.

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I just liked this image.



The melons are fruiting!



That was a watermelon, and this is a galia or cantelope. The honeydew are setting fruit also.



The dill is definitely harvestable size, just in time to make dilly beans. I already picked the first crop off my bush beans at home.



And what kind of bird is this? A juvenile woodpecker or flicker of some sort?

Happy Friday

The salsa was tasty, although we know it will get better as the tomatoes ripen and the peppers get hotter. I actually had to buff the green salsa with habanero sauce. And I should have put more chopped cilantro in the red salsa. But other than that, it was great.



RickC had harvested all his onions and garlic. I braided the garlic in true farm-grade style, using green tape to bind it.



We put the onions in the basket to cure a bit more, hanging off one of the plums. This was a good harvest, and we'll make good use of this bounty in our salsa.

We're talking about getting fall crops started. Yeah, really, it's time to think about that. We may seed onions where the chard is now, because it is bolting.

Three Months

Well, it's been over three months now since we started our farm. It's a good thing we accomplished so much so fast, because now it's too hot to work! About all we can do is drink beer in between flipping the switches on the irrigation. I'm so glad we got it all mulched and irrigated!

The soil here is very depleted from all the time it was fallow. We'll need to build the soil with liberal applications of compost. We'll side dress as best we can this season, but before we plant again, we will need to amend heavily.

Also, given the fantastic drainage, we can't depend on soil moisture. We'll have to water pretty steadily throughout this season. Again, this will be mitigated somewhat after we amend the soil.

The little rose is blooming happily. It's really responded to a little care and attention, not to mention a little judicious pruning.



My pole beans sprouted. They are pole filet beans from Renee's Seeds, and are equal parts Ramdor (yellow) and Emirite (green). They take 60 days, so we should start seeing harvest in late Aug.-early Sept. My bush beans (fruit showing as of today) will be the first to produce, then my pole beans, and finally these, for a nicely staggered harvest.



The melons are going crazy. They have loose sandy soil, endless sunshine, and regular water, which is exactly what they love.



The paste tomatoes (Big Mama) still seem really scraggly. I'm not sure I'll use this variety next year.


(See! I'm in some of the pix!)

And the golden jubilee tomato has been pumping out a ripe tomato a day.



Rick stopped in at the Enloe Farmers Market yesterday, and brought home a haul of fresh produce. So I took the opportunity to make salsa, which I'll bring over... now!