Peek-a-boo! Cucumbers start setting fruit at the bottom of the plants, so the earliest harvest means crawling on the ground.
THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• Sugar Snap Peas (some folks got Shelling Peas)
• “Tokyo Market” Turnips
• Zucchini
• Arugula or Red Lettuces
• Stir-Fry Greens
• Spinach
• Fresh Garlic
Click on the links above for information and recipes about these crops.
COMING SOON:
Fava Beans
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Sweet Onions
Carrots
Every morning, and sometimes throughout the day, I pinch myself. I just can’t believe it’s really summer! But it must be, because we have so many peas, the squashes (including zucchini) are in full bloom, the beans are blooming, the herbs are growing, and there are lots of vegetables showing now in colors other than green!
The first to bloom are the Shirley Poppies and Bachelor’s Buttons. There are many more though.
If you haven’t yet, I urge you to come and help yourself to the u-pick peas. There are Shelling Peas, and Sugar Snap Peas, and you can take as much as you want to pick—for free. Yes, they are FREE, so get down here and pick some to eat, or to eat and freeze for later, when you need a taste of summer. Many people just pick a handful, but it makes me SO happy when I see people come out of the burgeoning rows with big bags bursting with peas! You can easily pick $50 worth of sugar snap peas, for FREE! I’m sure there will be peas for one more week, but if it gets hot they won’t last more than two weeks.
Now is the time to pick a huge armful of flowers in the U-Pick Flower Garden. Take a lot!
Something else to take advantage of is the U-Pick Cutting Garden. We plant all these beautiful flowers, and weed and water them, just for you—our loyal subscribers! So please come down and get a HUGE bunch of blooms. Kim here did herself proud and got enough for FOUR VASES! It makes me so happy to see people enjoying them! See my separate post about cutting flowers here.
It’s been about 10 days since I pruned and trained the cucumbers, and look what’s happened! The vines are spilling everywhere. I had to do serious pruning today just to get in. There are so many little fruits though! We’ll be rolling in cukes soon!
The zucchini were blooming this week, and we actually did scrounge to get enough to give everyone two tiny zucchini, but don’t fear, there will be more. I ate my first green bean today, and while there aren’t many yet, there will be soon. The cucumbers are spilling off of their trellises now, and they are covered with 2-3″ fruits, so it really won’t be long until they are ready, as well as the new cilantro and dill crops. Just in time.
The poor hens that I wrote about last week are still traumatized, and are coping with a serious case of PTSD. We try to be calm when we go in to feed or collect eggs, but even that sends them into a panic. The mink really did a job on them—and we lost 30 hens. Mike did a head count the other night to get a tally. We started with 100 in that flock, so we are down by one-third.
The last of the summer crops are going in this week, as well as the first of the winter crops. July is the peak of busyness around here. Long days make for good sleep.
Whistling Train Farm 