Summer 2013 Row Info

Sector 1. Solanaceae 
(5th year rotation, front to back)
1b: Peppers: Serrano, Biker Billy, Padron, Red and Oj Thai. Far side: Ancho, New Mex, and Jalapeno from Renee's mix. TR. 4-15
2b: Tomatoes: 2 Indigo Rose, 2 Tangerine, 2 Cosmonaut Volkov. TR 4-15
3b: Peppers: Pizza and one Tumbling Tiger tomato, Paprika, L. Paprika, Ancho, A. Paprika, Ancho, Pimento. TR 4-15
4b: Tomatoes: 2 Better Boy, Purple Russian, Prince Borg, Cosmonaut Volkov, Beaverlodge. TR 4-16.

Sector 2. Beans and squash
5b: Red Mexican / Black Turtle (DS 5-5)
6b: Jacob's Cattle / Cannellini  (DS 5-5)
7b: Tomatillos and borage (self-seeded)
8b: Zucchini. (TR 4-20)

Sector 3. Beans and squash
2a: White Scallop / Acorn / White Scallop (donated plants)
3a: Green Beans French filet "Tavera" (DS 5-25)
4a: Beans Cannellini (DS 2-25)
5a: Borage / fallow
6a. Lettuce and chard.
7a: Tomatoes: Black Cherry, Yellow.

Sector 4. Pumpkins and Melons
(3 rows of 3 hills, left to right, back to front)

Red Kuri
Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Carnival Acorn Squash

Blue Hubbard
Butternut/Delicata
Kakai Hulless

Honeydew Galia
American Melon
Cantelope

Sector 5. More Tomatoes
This is everything east of Sectors 1 or 3. Left to right, front to back as facing shed)

Hillbilly, Gold Medal
Hillbilly, Purple Russian, Gold Medal
Persimmon, (stump), Yellow Cherry, Dill
Orange Cherry, (lilac) Red Cherry, Pepper corner: 1 Paprika and 3 A. Paprika

Katinka Visits

It was great to see Katinka when she breezed through on her way to Shingletown.

She didn't have much time, but she got to visit the farm at least for a minute.

Katinka brought me this uber jacket. It goes great with my pioneer bonnet and chicken...

The farm is finally all planted. We put green beans in 3a and Cannellini beans in 4a.

The beans in the back are all drying beans. Rick did a super job of tedi-weeding, and everything looks so nice with new straw down.

This is most of sectors 1 and 2. You can see how big the tomatoes are.

I realized the tomatoes planted near the washroom wouldn't get enough sun, so I transplanted them. After only a week in the ground, the stem of this plant had developed a ton of root structure. This really shows why you want to plant them deep or sideways.

And we have tomatoes forming everywhere!

Notice how these have very large sepals.

Yet another plant is fruiting.

The zucchinis are huge...

...and we harvested the first of them yesterday, so first zucchs by Memorial Day.

We continue to harvest wonderful lettuce and chard.

And Rick C. brought over some of his new potatoes to share. They were delicious!

I had to replant a couple of the squashes: the Kakai Hulless (below) and the Carnival acorn squash.

The squash bed, aka sector 5, is looking good. It needs more weeding, but some of those shoots are flowers.

Our reseeded tomatillos are fruiting too. You really only have to plant those once... like borage.

And peppers are fruiting.

The peas interplanted with the peppers are also producing.

The sage is still blooming.

And the poppies are almost done. I like how these have formed a sort of hedgerow.

Our backyard is also fully planted now. I transplanted the pumpkins and gourds on Saturday.

The fair was last weekend, so we went on Sunday, and enjoyed seeing Laura's piece.

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Weather Note
It always, ALWAYS rains on the fair. This year was no exception. Even though it's been just about perfect weather for the last week or so, on Monday morning, we awoke to the sound and smell of rain. We got a small amount of rain in the morning, then it stopped, so we went farming.... and it started again, and began to rain in earnest. We had to come in the bar to dry off and warm up! I would have made a fire but it's still too breezy. Definitely been a breezy spring, but at least no tornadoes.

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Buddy sits outside the bar. The apricot, peach, and lilac show three distinct shades of green in the misty light.

Rick and Buddy look out at the new tomato area. I guess that's still part of 1a. Or is it 0b?

Last Thursday we went to hear open mike night at Cafe Flo with Tom and Nancy. The cafe has a good selection of beer, and it's sort of funky and cozy, and music was great. Avoid the bathroom though.

Planting Ends, Harvesting Begins

It's been a fun and busy few weeks! For Rick's birthday, we had a small party at the farm. I got this lovely cake, which we served with vanilla ice cream and our homegrown cherries, soaked in brandy.

Karen and Ed were among the participants.

On a park walk, we saw these four does.

This was when we were still walking in the afternoon. We've shifted to mornings for the summer. You can just see the deer at the creek bend.

Another day we saw ducks.

We had a really good crop of cherries this year. Delina came over to help pick them on Sunday May 5.

Her friend Jacqueline came too.

Life is just a bucket of cherries!

I bought a cherry pitter at Colliers so we could process them.

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What We're Eating
Well, besides cherries, which I made into delicious cherry cobblers, we're eating lots of peas, lettuce, chard, and eggs.

And more lettuce and chard.

And even more chard!

Plus some early garlic from my yard.

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Also on May 5, Rick brought over his tiller and tilled up the last of the beds.

I planted drying beans in rows 5 and 6 B: Red Mexican, Black Turtle, Cannellini Lingot, and Jacob's Cattle.

We've continued to fix up the old laundry room. Rick put up these shelves.

Then last weekend I cleaned up the beer shrine and Rick installed it, complete with some siding and more shelves. Then he put in a switched plug so the fan and the light come on together.

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Weather Note
It's been windy or breezy much of the time. Lately, it's been nice delta breezes blowing in moisture. We got a tiny bit of rain, but also some nice bits of cloud to keep it cooler. Temps have been very nice: no higher than mid 80s with cool nights.

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Rick got some more weeds dug up.

And I planted more tomatoes.

This was really cool: someone left us some squash plants outside the gate. I planted them in row 2a.

We had another beer tasting, this time at Karen and Glen's house. It was "Session Beers" so we had to start with this one.

Here is the full lineup.

Then Tom and Nancy came over to drink some pilsner with us.

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What We're Drinking
We had Foam Pilsner, then we switched to Kolsch. We even have Kolsch at home.

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We have the first squash showing.

And Buddy picked the first apricot.

The beans we planted on the 5th were up by the 13th.

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What We're Wearing
For the garden, Catherine models these crocodile crocs.

And on the off chance I ever have to look nice... I bought this great dress from Katie's Corner. It goes perfectly with my purple tatted clutch.

And I found the perfect pair of purple peep-toe platform pumps. I was walking past the "Yard Sale" store downtown, when I suddenly knew my shoes were in there.

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