Again, another challenging season. Just the opposite of last year. This year with the threat of frost, the strawberries have not yet bloomed…so not to worry. Last year, with the extremely warm spring, some of the blooms frosted. Their yellow centers turned black and resulted in a funky berry. Bill, in anticipation, had pulled straw over most plants and saved the great majority.
So where is the garden at this year. Like the majority of the farmers, we had some difficulty getting tractor work started. But as of late, lots of crops are in the ground and coming up. The transplants, broccoli, kohlrabi, onions, leeks, cabbages, and brussels sprouts are in and looking happy. We’ve even transplanted lots of lettuces for early picking. Asparagus is popping up and with the addition of 3 more rows, we’ll have about ½ mile of asparagus rows. Three more rows of strawberries are in and the two rows of raspberries planted last year are multiplying and should bear this fall. Like last year we should have early peas and spinach in the hoop house. Beans, edamames, carrots, beets, and radishes are popping a bit later than last year, but as the days warm and get longer, everything seems to catch up.
This year, we took 24 guinea eggs from our last year’s hens. The guineas are terrible mom’s so we moved them under one of neighbor Luke’s “broody hens”. She finally has eggs to sit on instead of having them always taken from her. Hopefully, in 28 days will have our started keets for the season. Luke has 50 new hens this year and great egg production expected.
Ben has figured out a new cultivator. Hopefully this will reduce some hand weeding. He also found a commercial lettuce spinner for cleaning greens, and a huge sink for more efficient veggie washing. We’re anxious to begin the harvest phase and first pick trainings. It’s still hard to predict the exact day we can begin scheduling. We want to make it a worthwhile trip for everyone.
Please join us again this year. We’re looking forward to another great season of “growing food for friends”.
Ben, Bill, and Jill Beyer