Touring around

We've had a full weekend of fun on the farm. Today the garlic was weeded, a new herb garden was formed and the kids and I harvested 8 pints of tomatoes. We have matina and golden nugget - they are small but delicious. In terms of numbers, we harvested about 30 Matina ~ not many. They are coming. Yesterday I spent some time pruning the basil plants. For some reason I just love spending time with the basil. Tonight I processed a few cups of basil for easy pesto later this week.

This evening we all loaded up and went on tour of the fields. In Canard things are growing very fast. The zucchini were badly hit by cucumber beetle. Our squash here on the home farm have been badly damaged too. They will all survive - it just sets them back a bit.

The beneficials that we released for the aphids are doing their work quite well. The population seems to be reduced. But that leads me to our next dilemma....in Canard we have a 4 acre Honeycrisp orchard that we are putting into transition to organic. It is a young orchard, planted last year. There is a serious aphid infestation in the orchard. We are not wanting to spray with a conventional spray, but......aphids spread fire blight and fire blight wipes out orchards. It is really hard because we don't want to spray but risk losing the $40000.00 investment if we don't. My thinking is that the trees will be stronger in a year or two and will be able to fight against some of the pests and disease pressures. We will see. We work with professional crop specialists who advise on desease pressures, prevention and solutions. They work with organic producers too and will give good advice.

Have a wonderful Canada Day!

Aphidius colemani

I released 4 viles of these today (2000). The hope is that they will eat all the aphids. I will keep you updated.

Wednesday June 24

The market is open. This is pickup day but today we had the cooler full for anyone stopping by. We also harvested tomatoes today and have 8 pints for sale. Yippy!!!


It was a great day on Wednesday. The weather cleared up and it was sunny all evening during pick-up. Heather and Pam were kind enough to let me steal a picture.

Izaak and Valarie planted the sweet peas that Izaak started in the green house a month ago.

Keeping Herbs Fresh

Just a quick tip for keeping this week's parsley & dill from wilting: stand the herbs upright in a glass of water, either on the counter or in the fridge and drape a plastic bag over the top of the bouquet.

Water

One: Gerald and I transplanted something like 600 lettuces, 1,000 onions, and two hundred cucumber plants this morning. By noon, we were up off our hands & knees and as we strolled along the rows, Gerald said, "If we get those four days of rain like we're supposed to, you'll see these just hoppin' out of the ground. Weeds too, mind."

Two: It's been hot. And dusty. Three o'clock in the afternoon, Calvin said to me, "Water sure is good on a day like this." He puts a water bottle in the freezer overnight but, he said, "I wish it weren't quite so frozen just now." I was carrying water and offered him some; he gulped until it poured over his face.

Three: Yesterday, I hauled buckets of water up to the herb garden (It's unfortunately out of reach of the hose). Lily helped me scoop it onto the young cilantro and parsley and when she noticed I'd been drinking from a Mason jar, I guess she thought that was quite a novelty. Between us, we drained the jar and she so kindly offered to refill it. She had a run-in with some freshly pulled weeds and scootched around on her bum while deciding what to do about the thistle thorns in her toe. She disappeared, then reappeared with shoes and a shovel of her own to help with herb transplanting.

The Lady Bug Release

These lady bugs will hopefully fill up on the aphids. Thanks to Jamie and Judy for linking us up so quickly. We have wasps on the way for next week too.

Smelly Skunk

I usually wake up early on Tuesdays, trying to get things sorted out for the day of harvesting activities. This morning I was awakened by a very strong smell. A stinky skunk sprayed somewhere close to the house. I was concerned that all the greens would be sprayed, but they weren't, just our entry way.

It is 6:34 AM now. The rooster has been learning to crow and actually sounds like a rooster should.

Enjoy your day.