Farm Progress

Ok, meanwhile back at the farm... we did a couple of things over the last two weeks besides party. We harvested the first Black Icicle.

And ate it with seasoned salt. OMG! So good.

Rick agreed to trade some potatoes for potato leek soup. We all got lots!

We harvested onions too. All the garlic is up and cleaned up too. The last of the torpedo onions are still in the ground in row 2a but they are really ready to come up also.

We've eaten most of the apricots from the older tree, but the apricot branch is just coming ripe. The first plums are also getting ripe.

We moved the outside chicken pen behind the garden again. It's nice and shady, and full of clover. The grapes are loving it too, because they're using the rope and the side of the pen as a pergola.

My Indigo Roses at home are starting to ripen. I already picked a couple of borgs and the first serrano.

Can you believe this guy? It's just loaded with tomatoes. At least 50!

All of the basil and tiger pots are doing well.

And yesterday, we picked the first handful of Sungolds.

I got another coat of paint on the cabinet doors. It's gold spray paint, but I'm hoping it looks sort of antique. It will look great with the decoupage.

Partyville!

The last couple of weeks have been party-filled. It was First Friday Festival at the market, and Chef Richie showed his chops. He made a stir fry from market veggies.

Then it was the party at Casa Palmetto. Lots of music, food, drink, and cornhole!

The next weekend, we had Bill Beebe's retirement party.

Catherine got us a bunch of cool decorations.

And Laura made the sign.

As usual, we ate, drank, and enjoyed the sunshine at the farm.

Then, there was the dog party! Cindy's friends conspired to throw a doggie shower to welcome Inkie into Cindy's life. Lori graciously offered her home (and swim spa!). There were lots of nice folks and a bunch of dogs.

And some lovely gifts.

June Snapshot

I went around the farm and took a visual record of how everything is growing. The biggest news is that the henhouse is done! Rick looks triumphant. This adds another 49 square feet to our flock space.

For now, it's perfect for segregating the chicks. This way, the other birds can see them and smell them, but we can keep their food separate. Chicks can't eat lay mash, because it has too much protein and calcium for them until they start laying.

Flowers are blooming in the beer garden. I never did get this bush pruned, but maybe next year.

Sector 1 is in drying beans, and they've come up strongly. 1B is Red Mexican, 2B is Flambo, 3B is black turtle, and 4B is half white and half Jacob's cattle.

The tomatoes and peppers in sector 2 are going nuts.

We already got a pepper from the Beaver Dam. It was very tasty! It would be a perfect salsa pepper: lots of pepper taste and just a hint of kick.

All the peas and most of the onions are out of sector 3. I harvested the leeks yesterday. The zucchinis and herbs are thriving.

Our onion yields weren't great but ok. They did much better in sector 3 than in sector 4, which we need to address before replanting sector 4.

And we already have some zucchins forming. We are always excited about the first one, and weary by the 100th one.

Sector 4 has the last of the onions and the gourd starts. They are starting to vine out.

The sweet peas are lovely still.

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Weather Note
We've had real tolerable weather for the last week or two, but that is about to come to an end, with 100+ temps predicted for this weekend and into next week. No rain of course, not since the week before the fair.
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Along the back fence, the clover is blooming.

And the grapes are forming clusters. We are due to move the chicken run to the back fence. Already the grapes are vining out to the rope, and we should be able to make a whole grape trellis over the pen.

At home, I harvested the garlic. Not a terrible crop, but not as big as I had hoped.

So I made a bunch of herb salt.

I got my grain mill, and I've been milling fresh flour.

I made muffins to take to the market today.

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What We're Eating
These are the fresh veggies I prepared for breakfast last weekend. The first tomatoes and peppers! Plus onions, garlic, garlic scapes, fresh oregano and basil, and chard.

It made for a superb fritatta.

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