Final Plantings

The Prince Borgs aren't the only tomatoes getting ripe. Here is an Early Girl.

And a Sweet Tangerine.

And more Borgs.

The Biker Billy jalapenos are setting fruit like mad.

The beans in row 3 are fully up. These are Kentucky Wonder and Dragon Tongue.

The first of the black-eyed peas in row 7 sprouted a few days ago.

And by yesterday they were up fully.

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Weather Note

It's hot! Yesterday was over 100. When we first went to the farm, around 6, it was 98 in the shade. It's on track to be as hot today, but then it may cool off for a bit. Rick demonstrates what it feels like to try to work in this sort of heat.

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We harvested a ton of plums and I cooked them all down into "plum goo." I washed and cut up the plums, removing the pits. Then I put them in the big pot and cooked it on low until it boiled. Then I simmered it for 10 minutes and ran the immersion blender in it. It made a lovely thick sauce. I immediately made some into a barbecue sauce that I'm putting on ribs today.

I put it in jars and shared with the co-op members. That way everyone can make it into whatever they want. Rene and Cindy: your jar is in Buddy's fridge. Come on over and get it.

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What We're Eating

Omelets with sauteed fresh zucchini, onion, and garlic, with the first tomatoes on top. The Ronde de Nice zucchinis are particularly delicious.

Zucchini muffins made with the Gray zucchini.

Ribs slathered in homemade plum barbecue sauce:

Chop onion and garlic and saute in olive oil. Add 1 can tomato sauce, 1 can diced tomatoes, and three big ladles of plum goo. Spice up with a good dose of worcestershire sauce, a squirt of soy sauce, dash of basalmic vinegar, rice vinegar, juice of half a lemon, teaspoon of prepared horseradish, a handful of brown sugar, and an icecube of roasted pepper sauce (from the last of last year's) plus salt and pepper.

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Despite the heat yesterday, we managed to get some basil planted in row 8. This will leave plenty of room for the Big Jim, Biker Billy, and Cayenna peppers. Then we re-deployed the irrigation to cover the whole area. The front half of the row is Perfumo di Genoa, and the back half is Italian Pesto, both from Renee's Seeds.

That's the last of the planting for now. I should start broccoli seeds in pots for the fall garden by the first of July... hmmm, that's essentially now!

Summer Harvesting

It's official: I picked the first tomato on Thursday, 6-24. It's from one of the Principe Borghese in my backyard. Those were planted later, not until mid-May, when it had really warmed up. The ones I planted in the farm on May 5 are also just starting to ripen up. The extra two weeks in the ground didn't make them fruit faster. If anything, it set them back. I'd have kept them all in the cold frame two weeks longer if they hadn't outgrown the space and the pots.

The first of the beans I planted on 6-20 were up by Wed. Yesterday (Fri.) they were all up.

Rick C. snagged this sink. We're quite excited about it, and plan to make a stand for it out of old fencing 4x4s.

We checked out the giant wind chimes. Very cool.

Rick enjoys the cool tub.

I had signed us up for the Great Sunflower Project, and ordered the seeds on 6-8. When they hadn't arrived in two weeks, I gave up and ordered the same seeds from Renee's Seeds, along with some other flower seeds. So yesterday we checked the mail and... both seed packets had arrived! We figured it was time to plant them.

So we put them in on Friday, 6-25, in this patch along the old shed, to the side of row 1 and behind the winter squash.

The plums are coming ripe now, and we're picking lots of them. I have a big bag of them in the refrigerator. I'm going to save up several days worth, and boil them down into puree, for wine or jelly or just eating.

I got a good look at another lizard. I'm not sure if this is a juvenile alligator lizard, or another variety.

He's hard to see in the straw.

And finally, my apologies for the out-of-focus shot, but I wanted to document that the marigolds are already blooming, as of Friday.

Solstice

I took a bunch of pix just for documention of how fast various crops are growing. Here are the melons on 6-20.

And the Boston Marrows, likewise on 6-20.

Here are those same seedlings 3 days later. Rick and I are having a "staycation" for our 25 anniversary. Rick has a week off and we're just taking it easy: lots of meals out, plenty of beer drinking, and a little farming around the edges.

My Boston Marrows at home are fruiting already. They went in a week or so earlier.

And are already trying to take over the world.

With their cohorts, the gourds.

My Borgs are showing real red color.

Back at the farm, the peppers are fruiting up. Here are the cayennas, already showing that characteristic curl.

And this is a Biker Billy. It's still very tiny but the plants are nice and big and I have hopes for a good crop.

The marigolds are showing the first hint of blooms.

These gray zucchinis were almost done on the 20th.

As were these Ronde de Nice zucchs.

And a day later, we picked them.

The romanescos went in a week or so later, but they've caught right up.

Rick and Rene work on the final chicken pen piece. This is a tiny box so we can set a chicken or two right in a small space. The idea is to use them as a mini tractor and bug control.

Here it is finished.

These are the tigger melons, behind the sunflower/marigold patch.

On day I took the glue gun to the farm, along with this gourd. The yardifact container was totally full, so I took all the yardifacts, and hot glued them to the gourd.

We continue to harvest lovely onions and garlic.

We might prepare them just a little more than this....

We are trying this new kind of irrigation for true row crops like beans. It has emitters built into the hose, and delivers the water very precisely. Here you can see dry patches between the rows, even though they are no more than 8 inches apart. We used this type of irrigation on row 3 and row 7. Row 3 was seeded in Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the back row, and Dragon's Tongue beans in the front two rows. Then yesterday we planted row 7 with Pigiott cowpeas in the back row, and bush Baby Maxibel in the front two rows.

Yesterday, Rick and I went up to Honey Run covered bridge for a swim and some birdwatching. Here Rick consults the bird guide.

We spotted Red Shouldered hawks soaring over the buttes, and an Acorn Woodpecker grabbing bugs out of midair. We also spotted a kingfisher, a starling, and a scrub jay.

It's About Time!

Ok I admit, I've gotten behind on blogging. And Katinka had to call me from Australia to chastise and berate me! So without further ado... let's get bloggin! On Monday, the Boston Marrow squashes were just sprouting.

And the melons were just coming up as well.

And the squash is fruiting up. This is a Ronde de Nice.

We got an even better look at our friend the alligator lizard. He was on the mulch when I arrived at the farm, and it's a good thing I didn't accidently step on him. We shooed him to a safer area--after I got a few good pix.

Rick communes with the chickens.

On Tuesday, I visited Rick C's garden, both to see what he had planted and to reclaim the rototiller. Can you believe it? He took HIS rototiller to HIS house to work on HIS garden... the nerve!

His beans are thriving (above) and he has lots of peppers planted.

The peppers are huge!

Here's the corn patch, with some Bidwell melons in the center.

And here's a shot of my pumpkins and gourds. They've grown a lot since this was taken!

With the tiller back in its rightful place, Rick tills up row 3. The bloom in the foreground is a leek blossom.

Rick reflects on a job well done.

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Weather Note

It's still unseasonably cool. On Saturday when we went to brunch at Sierra Nevada, I was wishing I had brought a sweater. In June! We aren't complaining though, because this cool weather is letting us get everything finished. Forecasts suggest it will hot up later this week.

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This pic is sort of hard to see, but we think those are raccoon prints. The nickle is for scale.

The plums are just starting to ripen.

Rick eats it!

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What We're Eating

It's sort of between seasons in the garden. The peas are gone. The zucchini is almost big enough to eat. I planted some really late lettuce, and it's ripening up right now, along with the plums and apricots. We also have onions, garlic, and leeks. The tomatoes, grapes, and peppers are setting lots of fruit, but none of those are ripe yet.

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Here's another zucchini, this time a gray zucchini.

After we got row 3 tilled, we planted beans: Kentucky Wonder pole beans in the back, and two rows of  Dragon Tongue bush beans in front. Rick J pounded in the poles, and yesterday I put the strings up.

I also nicked and soaked the moonflower seeds. Here Buddy points to one place we planted them.

I was trying to get a pic of Blanco to show how roosterish he looks. He's definitely a boy.

We started our vacation Friday afternoon. Rick took a week off and we are spending it in town, with day trips here and there, lots of meals out, and plenty of relaxation. The last chore was to finish assembling the new gazebo. This new gazegbo is a larger 10x10... that is, it's larger at the bottom than the old one was. The furniture fits much better now.

I put some curtains on the front and side.

After that, we spent a bit of time at the farm. Rick works on the tiny pen. This is intended to let us place chickens in tighter spots, so they can dig up, fertilize, and de-bug an area.

Then we had to rush off to Keith's party. We started at the Raw Bar, then came back to Titus and Jane's for cake and Catan.