Week of July 12 2010 : Switch

(Here is a picture of our Gonzales cabbage. We are growing two varieties, Farao and Gonzales. Both are intended for fresh use such as slaws, stir fries and wraps. The first plantings are already in the heading stage. The white plastic mulch suppresses weeds as well as deflects heat so this cool weather crop is surviving through this hot summer.)

This weekend we planned on opening up our market season at the Geauga Fresh Farmer's Market. We also planned on returning to the Lake Metroparks Farmer's Market soon thereafter. We doubled our capacity to meet the anticipated demand. We knew we would be busy and welcomed the challenge.

The uncertainty was our children. Last year, we attended one market and parented one child (not to mention the full time off farm job) . This year we planned a second market and prepared to welcome our second child. Like I said, we knew we would be busy and welcomed the challenge.

The arrival of our second child suddenly put the world in focus, big screen high definition. 19 month old boys are a round the clock responsibility. 2 week old girls are a round the clock responsibility. Suddenly we realized we forgot to consider quality of life. Although "getting it all done" was possible, we could not maintain all three: quality of life, quality of parenting and quality of produce.

So after thinking through our options, and discussing our situation and the market needs with our market manager, we are delaying our Geauga debut. Although disappointing, everybody wins. We will focus on quality parenting. The Geauga market has plenty of other quality vendors.

Now you have to visit us at the Lake Farmparks Farmer's Market instead.

Week of July 5 2010 : Knee High

(Here is a picture of a Moon and Stars watermelon. Remember the transplant? Just six weeks later we have melons. This particular variety will grow to 18" (10 lbs). We also grow smaller single serve varieties too such as Sugar Baby and Solitaire. Corn is supposed to be knee high and this year the watermelons are knee high too)

The pace out in the fields has slowed a bit. The early season tasks such as transplanting are nearly are complete, just one tray of cucumbers to set in the field. Now the daily tasks include irrigation and scouting for disease and pests. The plastic mulch and trickle irrigation dramatically reduce labor. Currently the notable pests are Japanese beetles. These pests target edamame and eggplant. A spray solution of water and Ivory dish soap provides enough relief to keep the plants alive. The beetles will disappear by the end of July, so although they are annoying beyond comprehension, there is little impact on the harvest.

Later in the season we will face two more pests. Corn earworm and voles. Worms of any kind are an expected pest and are usually easy to control. A spray solution of water and organic BT subdues the worms and does not affect beneficial insects. But earworms are different. BT does not destroy the eggs that moths lay in the corn silks; then young worms burrow into ear tips immediately upon hatching. BT is effective only when present on the silks during the short time window between hatching and burrowing. As a bacteria, BT breaks down quickly in the summer heat so management efforts are rather significant.

Relatively few growers face vole pressure. Fencing protects some of our crops from deer and other large animals. But remember that every action has a consequence; the consequence of fencing is the voles are protected from nearly all predators. With few predators and plenty of food, the population spikes quickly. This year cucumbers are the victim. At least the hawks, at night possible owls too, capitalize on the situation.

Week of June 28 2010 : Harvest

(Here is a (sideways) picture of our Hansel eggplant which is similar to the famous Lady Finger. This is our first growing experience with eggplant and are pleased with the results. The plants are beautiful with big leaves and delicate purple blossoms. Thorns attempt to protect the blossom and fruit from predation. The fruits are small, optimal size is 4" - 5"; they are thin skinned and are non-bitter. Unfortunately these plants also present a management challenge: Japanese beetles prefer these eggplant over edamame.)

So far this season there have been harvests in many senses of the word.

Of course we are harvesting vegetables. We planned our first day at the Geauga Fresh Farmer's Market to be July 17. The warm weather is certainly helping us meet that goal. We are already harvesting cucumbers, eggplant, snap peas and summer squash. No surprises there. We also have harvested a few peppers and tomatoes and anticipate several more varieties will mature in time for first market. Again, no surprises.

The big surprises are the cantaloupes and watermelons! The bees are busy working the blossoms and their work has produced a wonderful fruit set and may (though doubtful) have maturity in time for first market. Go melons!

We are also "harvesting" a lot of birds. Five Blue Birds fledged from our Peterson nesting box and the parents are already building their second nest. Five Tree Swallows fledged from our NABS nesting box. Robins have fledged two broods from their undersized nest on our front porch. And we have Purple Martins nesting in our garage; there are at least five, as many as seven, hatchlings.

And the other "harvest", we welcomed our baby daughter to the world.

Week of June 21 2010 : The Slide.

(I know, here is YET ANOTHER picture of our first stand of sweet corn. This is a close up of the silks. We nick named this Muppet Corn because the silks have a purple tint. These silks, contrasted with the dark green leaves, look really great in the field. I am sure our future market customers will agree the ears will taste just as great.)

Most of our back yard is cultivated. There is not much room for playing and there is less room for large children's toys like slides or pools. So when we acquired a slide / swing combo and a splash pool, we had to consider where to put it all. After strategic deliberations, we decided to put it near the pea patch.

Now that the peas are mature, we see just how wonderful that idea was. After a hard slide, our son lands then runs a few steps to the peas. He harvests a pod from the plant, crunches the peas and giggles as he runs back to the beginning of the slide to repeat the fun.

And hot days in the pool are even better. We help him harvest a handful then he sits in the cool water crunching away and giggling. This time last year he was still eating strained peas from a jar. We laugh and tell him this is the good food. He screams, YEAH YEAH, excitement mixed with bitterness, which means he never forgot the strained pea experience.

Unfortunately, the fresh snap peas probably will never make it to market. The warmer weather hastened the maturity and our anticipated market start date is July 17. The timing may not work out but witnessing a person so excited about humble snap peas reminds us why we farm for market.

Week of June 14 2010 : Blossoms, fruits and tassels.

(Here is a picture of a Satsuma sweet bell pepper. This is an orange pepper with the traditional four lobe pepper shape. Of course it has thick crunchy walls so it will add color, texture and flavor to any dish. The plant in the foreground is a victim of sunset photography; the flash causes the plant to look chlorotic but is healthy.)

Wednesday night was a very casual night. We were caught up on transplanting, pruning and trellising and there were no disease or fungus threats. So we casually toured the fields to review our hard work.

Since the recent days have been perfect growing weather, and the night time temperatures have remained unusually warm, we are accumulating growing degree days quite rapidly. This translates to early blossoms and fruit set. We were expecting to see fascinating things and we were not disappointed.

Not surprisingly, the snap peas and zucchini are already setting fruit.

The cucumbers, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes are also setting fruit. Usually the first tomato clusters have blossom end scarring known as cat facing; but the warm nights have allowed the plants to set fruits that are blemish free. Even the late season heirlooms, which are notorious for disappointing first fruit set, have set clean clusters.

The cantaloupes and watermelons are also in blossom but we have yet to scout any significant fruit set. Watermelons are such a fickle plant. During the seedling stage they are very sensitive to temperature; any variation will stunt growth. The seedlings do not have thick fibrous root ball so transplanting must be done very carefully otherwise the transplant shock will also stunt growth. Next year I will line the plug trays with Jiffy peat pots.

Of course we need to give some press to our sweet corn too. The corn is beginning to tassel! So much for the old adage, knee high by the fourth of July. This corn will be silking by the fourth of July. Last night we planted our sixth stand; still two more stands to plant.

Yeah for healthy plants. And yeah for healthy food!

Week of June 7 : Correction

(Here is a picture of our first stand of corn. This corn has suffered frost damage, hail damage and wind damage. But it has survived each threat. The target harvest date is July 23 but with the warmer than expected weather this stand may be harvested sooner.)

My last comment, let it grow, was true but not the complete truth. While we did catch up on the transplanting that was not the end of the sowing. Ahh, and it was just the beginning of all the maintenance!

We need to accept a fact: we will never be done with all the maintenance.

There will always be more weeds. There will always be more bugs. There will always be more pruning and training. There will always be more threats of disease. My neighbor once gave me sage advice, harvesting a clean crop is both a physical and mental challenge.

Farming is well known to be physically demanding. But mentally challenging? Anticipating the threats and prioritizing those threats certainly requires knowledge and foresight. Discipline is also necessary.

Consider how many crops we are growing (14), how varieties (39) and how many stands (as many as 8 per crop). Just organizing the sowing schedule is challenging for me! Only now comes the physical labor.

Week of May 30 2010 : Push!

(Here is a picture of our Diva cucumbers. These feature a smooth, thin and no-peel skin. They are tender, crisp, sweet and seedless. Because they are a non-bitter variety they are much less attractive to cucumber beetles.)

The big push is over. During the winter months we carefully prepared a complete schedule of tasks, ranging from starting seedlings, to preparing the fields, to setting the transplants. Of course we expected some interference from the weather so the real intent of the schedule was not to define deadline dates but rather to assign an order and priority to all the tasks. The schedule was constructed such that, if the weather would just somewhat cooperate, we could complete a few tasks each day and avoid a major push.

So much for weather cooperation. So much for the schedule. We were left with nothing but a BIG push. Things had to get done. That meant putting fresh batteries into the head lamp and setting transplants until 10:30 PM. Then waking up the next day at 4:30 AM to continue setting transplants. But things got done.

Now its time to step back and let it grow!