Got zukes down on The Farm

I've been lax about posting on progress at The Farm. I keep taking pictures, and they keep getting outdated before I even get around to posting them. The Farm has been going great guns -- I'll give an update later. Today, though, the big news is the zucchini -- coming in very early, and large. This is in keeping with how things have been going -- bumper crops all around. Here is a picture of today's harvest:

Tons more on the vine in varying stages of growth. Lots of squash, as well, but too small to pick at the moment. I can almost smell the zucchini bread baking now.

Early days, but The Farm is producing nicely

The cold weather crops are coming in nicely. Because of the relatively warm winter, we got a lot of stuff in the ground in early March. They are now starting to produce. Here we have the bed of white radishes:

Harvested some of that stuff today. The red radishes are doing nicely, as well:

Harvested some of that today and last week. The asparagus is coming up:

Not that I'll ever get any of it. Farmer Tom's family eats it all:

Spinach is going well. Some got harvested last week and today:

Two half beds, and they're likely to produce for a few months:

We'll probably reseed those a bit to fill in holes. The peas are coming in nicely, as well, and will need some hole-filling themselves:

I probably also will need to put in a string trellis tomorrow so they can climb. If it doesn't rain:

Took a chance and put in a couple tomato plants a couple weeks ago, to try and get some staggered production. We covered them for the freeze the other night, and they came through nicely:

Did a little harvesting today. Got some radishes, white and red. The white ones look like carrots:

Harvested some spinach, as well. Somebody is getting salad tonight:

Also harvested a bunch of parsley from Farmer Tom's herb garden. He's up to his ass in parsley. Looks like a lot of garnishes to me. I suspect I will wind up drying a lot of it, then grinding it for use as a seasoning:

So, The Farm is doing well. With a little luck, this will be a good season.

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.

Down on The Farm again

Put in some fall crops the other weekend. Went to Southern States and picked up some plants. I put in some romaine lettuce:

Also planted brussel sprouts:

And, of course, what fall crop lineup would be complete without broccoli:

As for summer crops, the peppers are doing well:

Like I said:

Harvested beans, okra, peppers and chard. Not a bad haul, considering the weather:

Things are happening down on The Farm

I'll be going to The Farm tomorrow, so I figured I better put this post up before it becomes obsolete. I went to The Farm last Sunday, and things were kind of a mixed bag. We have had a metric shit ton of rain lately. We had no rain -- zero, zip, nada -- for the first two weeks of July, then had 11 inches in the last two weeks, making it the rainiest July on record. And the rain has continued into August. We're supposed to have some sun tomorrow, Sunday and Monday, but then rain the rest of the week. And, of course, it is raining as I write this.

This is good/bad for crops. Plants need water, but they need sun, too, and too much water will kill them just as dead as too little. As it is, the plants are mostly okay, but the production is off. Here, the second crop of beans is growing nicely, but not much in flowers yet. Still a couple weeks away from any major production:

The carrots are going gangbusters. We thinned properly this year:

The first bean crop is done, except for the pole beans that snuck in there:

The third bean crop is coming along, should flower in a week or two:

I am so tired of chard, but it keeps producing:

The kale (two kinds) is almost done -- burning up. We are pretty much past kale season:

The okra is coming along. A little early for production, but only a couple weeks away, I think:

The peppers are not digging the rain, but they are starting to produce:

Shitty picture, but look at all those serranos. A little sun, and some will turn red:

Some harvesting took place. First off, we got some early carrots. The effect of the proper thinning shows, as these are bigger than most of the carrots we have harvested in the past:

This is the last of the first bean crop. Not bad for a final harvest:

Of course, lots of chard:

A few peppers. Lots more to come, I suspect:

Kale, as well. Probably close to the last:

The tomatoes, squash and zucchini don't look so hot. Could rally late, I suppose, but March and April rains kept me from building beds, so the gourds went in late, no onions or potatoes at all, and the tomatoes are suffering from the rain, as well. We'll see how things turn out.

More farm stuff

Almost forgot to post these photos. The okra is coming in well:

The peppers could be stronger, but I blame the weather so far:

Second crop of beans looks good:

Carrots are coming along well. Thought I had a picture, but maybe next week.

So, I made it to The Farm this weekend

Operations at The Farm are much more limited this year because of the copious amounts of rain we had in March and April, as well as in the first half of May. No potatoes, no onions. Barely got the peas in, and they did not do well because rain kept me from putting up a trellis. Finally, we are getting consistent sunshine, though. The tomatoes are doing well. Other crops also are coming along nicely. For instance:

The beans are doing well. This is the first crop, which I harvested on Saturday:

It should keep producing for a few weeks. I put in a third crop Saturday, and the second crop is coming along well. Meanwhile, the chard continues to produce:

Kale is going gangbusters, although I think the heat will kill this off soon:

 
 One of the side effects of the poor weather early in the spring was that I was not able to prepare beds for squash and zucchini, among other plants. Couldn't till the ground. Anyway, two weeks ago I planted two squash and two zucchini plants in the old bed, without tilling. Saturday, I had to make things right. There these plants were, in the middle of a bunch of grass:

I had to dig out an area of dirt around the plants then fill in with topsoil:

Looks good, actually:

Anyway, we might be on a more normal course at this point. We have okra, carrots, more beans, and tomatoes in. We also have more room for other crops, so we'll see what we put in the ground in coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Old stuff from The Farm

This is from a month ago, easy, but I have been busy. Anyway, after a very cold March and even colder April, we were ready to go.

Farmer Tom and I weeded, tilled, and basically prepared the beds for planting.

Then we planted. You can see the stakes in the beds  that identify what we planted. We put in kale, chard, spinach, radishes, arugula, and carrots.

A lot has happened since then. Farmer Tom has been out of action for health reasons, so I have been doing what I can. There are gaps in the documentation. Tomorrow I will be back at The Farm, and you will see a lot of progress. Stay tuned.