Thursday, July 28, 2011

This is more pixie dust and "once upon a time" going on in our field than you might imagine.







Our brave little tomatoes are eeking out their first flush of cherry red orbs despite the fact that they have been desperate for water...


We crooned over them and furrowed our brows in apology as we discarded many tomatoes that simply couldn't make it, and rotted from the bottom through lack of moisture. "Never mind never mind!" Our long suffering vines chirrupped. "We shall rally for another round!" And so they are...perhaps in a wild attempt to grace our tables alongside the fresh slicer cucumbers.


It is sheer lunacy farming vegetables without a water source. If the land were ours, and not just for rent, we'd have sunk a well a long time ago...but as is, we have traded a neighbor vegetables for gracious use of her spigot every other evening. It is not enough...but it is something.
We will hand water what needs it.


It seemed the stuff of fairy tales when we brought in our first tomato harvest ahead of schedule, here for the last week in July.

And pumpkins fit for Cinderella's coach are already ripening on the vines...


Whenever it rains I find myself heading for the kitchen to take advantage of the temporary cool and indulge in homemade soup and brownies...Our "retired" laying hens make the tastiest of broths when boiled with a little oregano, basil, a cut up zucchini, onion, garlic, and bay leaf. And this rainstorm was reason to celebrate indeed with a chicken in the pot...with freshly made buttered biscuits we feasted in honor of the gift of this good rain, sitting outside breathing in the newly damp air.


The natural world has been at times the dragon we battle to free the imprisoned princess, and the princess herself...and every week the field gives birth to generous bounty. We throw our labor into it, to meet our members' needs and our own...and we are greeted with harvest after harvest of joy.

Week 9 Share:

romanian peppers,chili, jalepeno

potatoes

european market cabbage

bell peppers

summer squash

cherry and 4th of July tomatoes

red onions

Bac Choi

French Breakfast Radishes

English Slicing Cucumbers

Pickling Cucumbers

weekly newsletter

flowers available from Petal Patch Farms

No comments:

Post a Comment