Week 12, 2013

We are halfway through the season.  It is really hard to believe.  It seems like the weeks are just flying by.  I heard not to long ago a metaphor for how time seems to speed up the older you go.  They said it was like you are moving through time at the speed of your age.  When you are 20 you are moving 20 mph when you are 65 you are traveling 65 mph relatively through your time.  Well, as I approach 40 I am starting to feel the wind in my hair.

We have finally added some color to our pick up this last week.  Beautiful red radishes.  I found that if I plant them one week after the lettuce I can usually pick them at the same time.  There was a few pink and albinos in the harvest and I grouped them together for a curiosity bunch.

I have been watching a few lettuce oddities as well.  We saved our seeds from the new fire lettuce a few years ago.  Some are very red,  but some are oak leafed and green with a tint of red.  Those are much faster to grow out.  I will leave these and see if I can get some self crossed seeds again to try out.  I like those greenish ones better as they finish faster.  Just look at the relative size in the picture above.

Along with saving some of our own seeds where we can I try to select traits that we like when we grow.  On the mustard and the arugula, I always try to remove the flowers that sprout up first.  I am trying to select plants that flower later than others so we have a longer harvest interval between growing and seeding.  These are some mustards that have started to flower.

Here are some pictures from the farm  Photo credit Pat Steed

sugarcane flowers with a hidden waning crescent moon

tomatoes in the greenhouse...Still waiting for some ripe ones  Photo credit Pat Steed

Farm photo Credit Pat Steed