Week #7 of the Third Period

We are winding our way down to the end of the season. It looks like the trial of Surround clay mixed with copper is working pretty well on the cucurbits and the tomatoes.

Here is a picture of a zucchini with Surround spray

I have remarkably fewer stink bugs on the tomatoes this year. And they are almost ripening up so I can actually pick them on the plants instead of picking them a the greenish pink stage and holding them. That was a big winner. The sunflowers did well this year and I would like to do more next year. The peaches are ripening up and are still small. But they received no fertilizer this year and are doing better than expected. I hope to fertilize them in the next month with local horse manure.

I was able to get the local forester and the extension agent for forestry out to the property to look at the pines. Nobody is sure why they all died. There was some thought that they were planted too shallow, but even the ones that were planted high died. I think that the ground was too sandy and didn't hold water well enough for them. Now it is on to plan B. Two more harvests to go to the end of the season.

Period 3 Week 4 pick up

Things are going better than expected in some cases and worse in other areas of production at the farm.

Here is a list of surprises good and bad:

The good:

red potatoes--did way better than expected with earlier planting date and minimal attacks from ants.

swiss chard--I did not think it would produce this late in the season.

squash/zucchini--Found some varieties that work; finally.

peaches--Looking good so far!

rye--I still can't believe that I grew a grain at the farm. Harvested some this week. The Dixie Chics love it.

spinach--did better than expected and looking forward to next year.

The bad:

bok choi-- beetles decimated them in one week, late in the season

the cold--ruined peas, corn, peppers, eggplants.

peas-- don't like it cold and don't like it hot.

cauliflower--don't like it hot.

pine trees--had a 90% failure at planting. Totally perplexed. We had great rain and cold this winter. Maybe too much. They should have survived.

camera--Don't let tiny children play with them!

Harvest and pickup continues into our third portion of the harvest season. The beets are finally looking good and the lettuce continues to produce heavily. Our warm season crops are starting to grow after being battered by the winter. We have had a really nice basket the last few weeks. The spinach, mustards, bok choi, some lettuces, and radishes are starting to bolt but we are harvesting what we can. The squash is starting to fruit and I think that one more week we will be able to pick for everybody. There is an abundance of loquats starting to ripen up and we will picking them shortly. This is an exciting time with the produce amount and variety.

One of the very neat things that I tried this year is a little patch of grain I was trying to grow. I planted a small portion of Wren's Abruzzi winter rye. I planted it to see if we could grow a grain for the chickens. So far it is really looking neat. I am very excited to see the small grains forming on the shoots. I strikes something really deep at an emotional level. I am not sure what it is but I really find something extremely fascinating watching the rye heads blowing in the wind and seeing the grains ripening up. It must be something evolutionary that strikes at my core. I hope to expand this for next year if it continues to ripen to maturity. We will be purchasing our camera within two weeks and I will catch up with the pictures.