Finally got back to The Farm

Because of working weekends and constant rain during September, I hadn't been to The Farm in four weeks -- since Sept. 3. That weekend, low these many weeks ago, I brought home an OK harvest, including beans:

Okra:

And peppers:

 All in all, though, this summer was total shit down on The Farm. The spring was so rainy and cold I was unable to prepare beds for onions, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and cucumbers, so none of those crops got put in. It didn't help that Farmer Tom was undergoing treatment for skin cancer. (He seems to be fine now.) The tomatoes underwent what can only be described as total crop failure. I think I finally convinced Farmer Tom they need a new location, although that would not have helped this year because the weather was too God-awful to construct new beds in the spring. So there's that.

We had great production on kale and spinach for a while. Constant rain in July really hurt the beans. It didn't help the peppers much, either, but they have come through nicely. Mrs. Wolves went to The Farm last weekend (a week ago) and with Mrs. Farmer Tom harvested a bunch of these wonderful peppers:

These too:

So yesterday -- Sunday -- I finally made it back to The Farm. Farmer Tom had been quite neglectful, I'm afraid. When I was last there, I put in romaine, brussel sprouts and broccoli for fall crops, and there were still beans on the vine. The beans died on the vine, the okra went unpicked, and bugs did a horrible number on the fall crops. The peppers suffered from all the rain, but are still producing. At least the hot peppers are. The bell peppers have almost all rotted on the vine before ripening because of the rain. Sunday, I got some hot peppers, as well as some okra:

As anyone who knows anything about okra knows, if the pods get too bid, they taste like wood and are useless. You have to pick early. Alas, I threw away dozens of okra pods that were just huge. No damn good, in other words. On the other hand, I am drying peppers like a fiend, and I expect to put up a few quarts of hot sauce, as well. All is not lost.

I really need to post more often, Farm edition

About 10 days ago, I was at The Farm to check on things and harvest stuff. The corn that Farmer Tom finally let me plant looks good:

e have some broccoli in the ground now that should be ready about Halloween:

The second-crop peas I planted are coming in:

We also have brussels sprouts in the ground:

Swiss chard continues to produce, against all odds:

The final crop of beans also is putting out produce:

I harvested some cucumbers, tomatoes and okra:

Also turnips:

Got some carrots:

A little Swiss chard:

Some beans:

Some peppers:

All in all, not a horrible day. We have a number of crops that performed extremely poorly, but we've had some successes, too. I prefer to dwell on the positive and correct the deficiencies next season.

I have, in fact, been to The Farm recently

I went on Sunday, just to harvest. It was a quick-hit visit, so I had no time to weed, etc. Still, the harvest was good. I got okra, tomatoes and cucumbers:

Got a bunch of beans:

The okra looks good and continues to produce prodigiously:

The corn that Farmer Tom didn't want me to plant looks good:

Really good:

On the other hand, some of the squash-related crops just burned out:

Not a happy time. Anyway, tons of okra:

Also peppers and cukes:

Wax beans, of course:

And purple beans, because they look cool when you can them with green beans and wax beans:

Oh, shit, more green beans:

Probably going to The Farm again tomorrow, and if not, certainly Sunday. We'll see what we see.

More farming

I went to The Farm again earlier this week, just to check on things. Things are popping. The peppers, which I just put in, are doing well:

The peas are going gangbusters:

The spinach volunteers from last fall are getting massive, and the spinach we planted this spring is coming in nicely:

Lettuce and radishes also are coming in well:

The first crop of beans are up:

Lettuce and cauliflower also going well:

As is the broccoli:

The brussel sprouts are doomed, but they are thriving at the moment:

We have a bed with swiss chard, some kind of lettuce and kale volunteers that is doing well:

The garlic is coming in, along with some parsnip volunteers:

The potatoes are busting:

As are the onions:

As you can see, we have lots of crops in the ground this year. I look forward to harvest, and I also have more to report in a week or so on new crops.

Farming

OK, so I went to The Farm last week. One of the beds had some kale volunteers and a bunch of weeds. I decided to turn it into potatoes:

Farmer Tom wanted to keep the kale volunteers in hopes that they would go to seed, so I had to plant around them. It wound up looking like this:

Also, after the heroic efforts by Minnesota Wolves and Cpl. Wolves a few weeks ago digging up two new beds, Farmer Tom put some dirt on them to build them up a bit:

So, I spread the dirt around to make it so we could plant something:

Same went for the second bed:

 Yes, I spread that around, too:

On bed number one, we put up a fence to keep the deer out. The plan was to put up a trellis and plant cucumbers:

More on that later. We also put up a fence around new bed No. 2:

Back to bed No. 1, we set up the poles for a string trellis. We also did mound through the middle of the bed and around the perimeter, then planted cucumber seeds:

Bed No. 2 is supposed to get squash and zucchini later. I also put up part of the string trellis for the peas:

I will finish it later, when the peas start to climb higher. My final task was to put in some pepper plants. I had five -- three bell peppers, and two hot peppers. I also needed to weed:

I weeded, and I put in the plants. The bell peppers are on the right, and the hot peppers on the left:

I plan to get three more hot peppers and put them in later. we'll see how things go in the meantime.