The Little Kicks
The humidity has dropped and life if feeling good right now. We had a relaxing weekend this weekend -- moving the pigs and turkeys, canning tomato sauce and elderberry syrup, harvesting melons, broccoli and squashes and washing the pooch to free him of his fall itch. (I think he takes after his mother in being sensitive to all that crawls in the fall).
I am feeling so blessed with a full harvest this summer. Crops are robust and ready earlier than usual. Even though the onslaught of early season rain seemed like too much at the time, most crops enjoyed the long drink. (A note to self to try and irrigate more steadily when we have a lack of water.) There are so many variables that go into producing a good crop of anything that I find myself scratching my head trying to figure out the nuances of it all. However, giving Zach and myself a few props, we have worked hard over the last 8 years studying and asking questions to better understand our soil and climate and have used that knowledge to build the soil. We still have some weak spots, but all in all, the farm is shaping up to be a place we feel proud of. We hope you feel proud to be a part of that too, because each of you have helped make this farm whole.
I am an Ohioan after all. Born and raised, lived in the same house until I headed off to college and even that was done in Ohio. You would think I would know a thing or two about growing corn. I certainly saw many many, many, many rows of it as I drove our country roads. Most places, I could have touched it as I drove by, it was so close to the road's edge. And I definitely knew how to shuck it and eat it...many ears at a time...but I never experienced growing or harvesting it.
My learning curve has been great, and still growing. This year we actually transplanted 1000 plants instead of direct seeding them. It took a lot more time (maybe 4 hours in comparison to 30 minutes), but the results are amazing. There is a plant every foot and on every plant there are 2 beautiful ears of corn. That's 2000 ears of corn that will be ready pretty much all at the same time. Yowza! You see, every year I have to plant in excess to ensure a good crop no matter the circumstances...and when things all goes planned (like ample rainfall) we get the bumper crop. How many shucks could shareholder shuck if a....
This week's bounty: lettuce, Chinese cabbage, red cabbage, kale, peppers, summer squash, melon, beans, broccoli, corn, edemame?, tomato, parsley, dill (maybe some zukes/cukes/eggplant)....
