Straw

A little weeding...

Last year, the farm was aesthetically pleasing for most of the season. The rows were (mostly) neat and tidy, and we were proud to show it off. This year, it’s quite aesthetically displeasing. Yet, despite the weeds, it’s been a good year so far, so we’re just not going to worry about what it looks like this season.

We did, however, need to clear out one spot, or risk losing our celery, which Jason started from seed in February and tended to for weeks before we transplanted it in June.

This was the sitch on Sunday morning:

Believe it or not, there were four rows of tiny celery in this mess, as well as rosemary.

We pulled a few weeds by lunchtime. Haha!

Getting better. The celery looks droopy because it literally hasn’t experienced full sun in weeks.

Way in the back, there was a section of celery that was a lost cause. Some kind of grass that was nearly impossible to pull had taken hold (and was no joke 4 feet tall!). We salvaged any celery we could from that section and transplanted it. Then, we mowed the grass down. The celery and rosemary are tucked all snug in straw and getting a long watering. On the far left, you see heirloom tomatoes.

Here’s proof that we do crawl out from under the weeds every now and then. Fingernails mostly clean. We had my best friend and her children stay with us last week, and she took Silas and her boys on an adventure day. We declared that we were wrapping up farm work in the morning and doing something fun — just the two of us. We checked out Davenport Fruit Farm Cidery and Winery — what a cool place! It was so nice to relax for a few peaceful hours. And, yes, we spent much of that time talking about… the farm!

And I’ll close things out with a tomato photo because we’re elbows deep in tomatoes right now. Enjoy the rest of your August. Nights are getting cooler. School’s about to start and we’re half way through the CSA season.

~ Stella

Saturday night broccoli planting

We planted Broccoli Round 2 over the weekend. The first round was transplanted in a high tunnel, under landscape fabric in early spring, and annihilated by very precise voles in a timely fashion. It’s getting too warm to put broccoli under a tunnel now, so it’s in outdoor beds, with no landscape fabric. We didn’t want to risk it. We’ll experiment with when and where to use fabric all season, and let you know what worked and what was a critter salad bar. Early spring in a tunnel is a definite no-no.

For this planting, we did two 125-foot beds of broccoli, each with two rows. So 500 feet total. While the fabric and voles led to strings of curse words and deeply-hurt feelings, the straw has been fantastic for weed control. It’s so worth the time it takes to spread around each plant.

This is our first season growing broccoli with the deer fence, and that’s very exciting. It feels tucked in safe from rabbits and chuckies with the straw, and we’ve kept the water on it. If it can just get a few inches taller it should be in the clear. Grow, broccoli, grow!

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~ Stella