the farm + the blizzard of '10

I am going to put up several sets of photos, starting with the recent blizzard and work my way back to August's garden bliss. We love it out there. Peaceful and tranquil. We find so much harmony.

The big snowstorm this weekend collapsed a dilapidated outbuilding, our pole barn. Historically it probably housed horses and elk as our land has a history of raising both. We had started preparing to either jack the sagging trusses up or taking some of it down next spring. I guess we will prioritize this work now that it is really a hazard on the property. Enjoy.

Locavore pizza

This was two weeks ago now, but it was DELICIOUS: pesto pizza with locally grown/raised roasted beets, asparagus, potatoes, caramelized onions and local pork sausage. Heaven.

Flowers and birds and bunnies oh my

So we've had our share of garden pests this year. Squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks and other little critters also enjoy the fruits of our labor. So we've decided to fence off the lowest beds first - the tomato beds.

Secondly, I've attracted a lovely mix of birds just by changing our food source. We now have northern cardinals, purple finches, goldfinches, nuthatches, chickadees and hummingbirds regularly feeding in our yard. They are much more beautiful and have the sweetest songs. The sparrows continue to feed but I beam every time I see a goldfinch - or two or three - feeding on our thistle. I had no idea it was that simple around here to attract birds.

Midsummer Garden

We are suffering from a midsummer garden. So many crops so close to harvest (carrots, onions, more broccoli, squash, loads of tomatoes); so many main season crops just sprouting/transplanted  (green beans, edamame, corn, more storage onions; cucumbers); a few spots laying low for a few weeks before fall crops are sowed. Hard to think about cold-weather crops on a week like this.

The heat and humidity have been a boom for the garden. The watermelon tunnel is the best we've ever grown. Three varieties growing in an 8-foot long remesh hoop house. It should be a bumper crop this year, thanks to our hoop house we placed over it - and still have in place. After this cold high pressure moves through this week and it looks like the heat is with us for good we'll take off the plastic.

We have been eating well from the garden but still feel there's more we could be doing:

• savoy cabbage
• broccoli goodness
• greens, more than we can eat 
• basil (need to do another double batch of pesto, seems to be a monthly routine)
• carrots, baby carrots to think out the main crop
• strawberries continue
• raspberries, just starting to be gobbled up
• tomatoes, a few more this month!

Grow beans, grow!

I spy red, orange and yellow in the garden beds!

Mmmm, sweet bells. This is our early variety. The later one is just opening flowers. Perfection.

Feeding the family

I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised. We are eating a fair bit of food out of the garden. Ezra's favorite are the shelling peas; Jonah prefers the snap peas but has enjoyed his share of fresh peas! I love having fresh, tender salad greens I can pick fresh every morning in my Mother's Day gift: a harvesting basket.

As May comes to a close, here's what we've eaten from our vegetable garden this month:

• radishes, two plantings - enough to put in salads everyday
• pok choy, about 8 heads - enough for about six different meals since early May
• loose leaf lettuce, pounds and pounds - overabundant by the second week in May 
• spinach, many pounds
• snap peas, handfuls at a time
• shelling peas, bowlfuls at a time
• tomatoes - three ripe ones and one big slicer ripening as I type
• basil - made a quart of pesto on May 30(!)
• strawberries, a handful here and there since last week

Symmetry

It is with much effort that we are gardening with a more refined aesthetic. Part exercise in garden planning, part beautification of our neighborhood. John built this trellis on Friday, along with all of the tomato trellises: a simple Eliot Colemen design we modified slightly after the first one. Instead of having them be flush on the ends we let the top overhang, thus giving it more of a Japanese arts and crafts feel. 

 

Butternut squash trellis.

The trellises for tomatoes (middle and back beds) and for our pole beans (front "lettuce" bed). The middle bed was the first one built and after that we allowed the extra length overhang, in part because it meant no scrap wood.

The bed I'm most proud of for it's sheer symmetry: basil, tomatoes, carrots, peppers and cosmos. 

Purple haze carrot patch in the above-mentioned bed.

The Growing Garden

Ezra has a knack for picking more than just our radishes.

  

Jonah harvested our first ripe tomato, May 20. Unfortunately the kids love tomatoes too so we had to share with them!

My favorite view of all the front garden beds from the 'orchard'.

Watermelon and cantaloupe hoophouse.

Grow, garden, grow.