A Return to Labor...

Family, Friends, Strangers, and Pioneers,

Happy Labor Day! This is going to be a long post, because many things are going on at the moment. I just came back from checking on the farm, and I have some things to catch you up on... First of all, over the last week or two, a number of things have either succumbed to squash vine borers or just run out of steam and needed to be pulled. This includes most of the zucchini, all of cucumbers, and most of the green beans.
Fear not, the tomatoes continue to grow and ripen at breakneck speed. The plants are even making new flowers. I know in the interest of ripening the tomatoes already on the vines that I should remove these flowers stat. But the bottom line is that I don't have the heart to do it, and the plants are already making more tomatoes than three humans could possibly eat in one summer. Here are a few yellow ones I picked this morning, alongside the last cucumber of the season.
About those yellow tomatoes... When I picked the first, gigantic one, I was so excited. And then I took a bite and almost cried. It tasted terrible, and I professed my hatred of yellow tomatoes to my closest friends, but not you people of the internets, because I had put so much energy into growing the things and Worrying my Farmer Worries about whether or not they were growing appropriately. Well, luckily I tried another one a few days later, and I am happy to report that it tasted DELICIOUS! This one was of the traditional size, instead of the first ginormous one, and this one was definitely ripe--I might have cut into the first one a little too early. In any event, I am proud to say that I love yellow tomatoes, and am once again delighted with the Bounty.

Also on the farm, the flowers have sensed they're running out of time and sped things up. Now I'm not generally a fan of flowers, and certainly not posting pictures of them, but I'm a little bit enamored by them this fall...

So here's the sunflower of Green Thumb Sunday fame, but close up:
Some kind of vining flower seed N is growing that we almost mistook for a weed until we figured out what was going on:
The garlic chives flowering away:

Now, we're at the sad part of this post. September has arrived (somewhat unbelievably), and the time has come for me to return to my real career as a graduate student. I never really left it, but I added this farmer gig on top, and as is no surprise to anyone who knows me well, I'm not very good at doing two things I love at once. So this Farmer schtick is getting downgraded to a part-time job, which luckily dovetails nicely with the fact that the farm requires almost no maintenance at the moment. And the Grad Student schtick is going back to it's all consuming ways. I have a giant paper to write, and then several hours of on-the-spot questioning to prepare for this fall, all in the service of showing the powers that be that I am a competent human being. And I'll be collecting my dissertation data. This weekend, I prepared my office for that task, and like the green-ish farmer that I am, I even recycled a little motivation.

What does that mean for you people of the internets? Well, this blog is going to be updated a lot less frequently. But I'm still going to air all my farming adventures, mistakes, and hijinx to the masses. I mean, threat of frost will soon loom over the farm around every turn, and you know I'm going to post all my antics of attempting to cover those wild tomato plants and all of my fretting about whether they are surviving as they should. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned it but I planted lettuce seeds (!!) a week-ish ago to try my hand at a "fall crop" even though I'm not sure if Minnesota can handle it. People, you know I will be fretting about that too. But daily posts are a thing of the summer, not the fall. And you know how I like routine...

So until the next time the farm (or the farmer) does something remarkable, take care of yourselves, and each other.

When you don't have a sign off, I find it's best to use Jerry Springer's. ;)


Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 86F
Yesterday's low: 67F
Warnings: Last day of hot weather, possibly for the rest of the year, today.
Mood of the farm: Worried about all the plants the farmer is pulling...
Reason to consider a new career: Well, I'm a grad student. And I love it. So I'm sticking with that.

Cooking with Bounty

Last night, I had a craving for spring rolls and a Vietnamese dish for which I have no name. And so I asked myself, "Self, What Would Archie Do?" Luckily, I decided Archie would call Anonymous K to find out how one might go about making such a meal. Archie, clearly, is a very smart guy. Once I got home from the store, Dr. J had a craving to take Maisy for a run. Actually, she might have just had a craving for me to stop whining about Maisy's poor behavior. Either way, I said I'd trade her a run with my dog for dinner, and she agreed. And what was born? Free-spirited fellowship. Spur of the moment, completely unplanned, impromptu fellowship. And we didn't even freak out about it. Or if we did, we totally made it seem like we didn't.

Anyway, what, you ask does this have to do with the farm blog and farming? Well, it has everything to do with the farm because a lot of this meal was made with food from the farm or the CSA share (aka Farm Box). A few things came from SuperTarget (gasp) or the Asian grocery store, Shuang Hur. I even marked where the food came from for you in the picture (FG = Farmer Gower, of course).

Those are some good lookin carrots.

Rice paper in water.

My spring roll technique needs work.

Dr J., humoring me re: the ridiculous bowl situation.

Me, eating out of, yep, Corning Ware. But I'm still proud enough to display the meal in my signature pose, naturally.

In the end, everything turned out to be pretty tasty. The sauce was definitely not right (at least not at first. After a second, it got close to the right flavor...), and my lack of large bowls was definitely a difficult problem. But, you know, we're free spirits, so we just rolled with it.

Cucumber Envy?

Recently, people I know who read the blog have suggested that my cucumbers (and other edibles pictured on the blog) may be unnaturally large. I realize this is probably because I photograph them without anything in the pictures for reference, or the reference thing is out of proportion, like this potato, but I don't happen to tell you that. If you saw this picture, you'd think my cukes are each a foot long, right?
















...WRONG. That's a mini-potato I got at the farmers' market today for roasting at breakfast with H&N tomorrow morning. Here's a more accurate marker of size:
















That's right folks, chapstick. My cukes are pretty small. The seeds are not for gigantic cukes, and the soil isn't so rich where they're growing anyway...
Just like everything else, there are a million varieties of cucumbers to grow, and we picked a small-ish, bush-type cuke that doesn't vine very much, since the Farm was already pretty crowded. That sentence makes it sound like H, N, & I had that very discussion at Linder's when we were picking seeds... In reality, I'm pretty sure we said "Growing cukes would be good!" and grabbed the closest thing with a picture of a cucumber on it that we could reach.

For variety references...here are my cukes (middle), a farmers' market cuke (above) and part of the farm box cuke (below, a special greenhouse variety).

















Also, if this delicious Fellowship beverage I just mixed up (thanks for the recipe, Dr. J!) doesn't make you thirsty, I'm pretty sure we can't be friends.



















Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 85F
Yesterday's low: 62F
Warnings: The nights are getting chilly. If you are *ahem* covered in unripe tomatoes, you better allocate your resources accordingly.
Mood of the farm: happy to be fed yesterday
Reason to consider a new career: well, I'm pretty sure I'm a better farmer than photographer, so none today.

It Ain't Heavy, Ma. It's My Neighbor

Prosocial acts on the farm: Wando peas trellis themselves

And by the farmer... Farmer Gower farm box delivery for H & N (plus some beans and peas I didn't take pictures of). Everyone eats cukes this week!

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 81F
Yesterday's low: 62F
Warnings: There might be a slight threat of hail on the way...
Mood of the farm: I'm sorry to report a bout of stubbornness on the part of the tomatoes. As in, stubbornly growing many tiny tomatoes that aren't getting very big (though they are many)...
Reason to consider a new career: Powerless in the face of tomato defiance

I Ate Cucumbers for Breakfast. No, Really. I Did.

Well, it is official. I am swimming in cucumbers. Just to give you a sense of it, about two cucumbers a day need to be harvested because they're on the verge of being too ripe. H & N are not in town, Dr. J is in charge of eating all the cukes from the farm box, Dr. Corncobb doesn't eat vegetables, and Anonymous K, who would eat the most cucumbers of all, is getting settled into her new home in the greatest state on earth that is too far for Farmer Gower's delivery service.

In the meantime, I'm trying out different ways of eating them since there appears to be no slow down in cuke production on the horizon. Not that I am complaining, mind you. This seems to be the best Trial to have as a farmer. Too much bounty is a good thing!

My current favorite recipe came from a tip from Anonymous K:




















Cukes
Thai basil
Salt (Kosher or Sea)
Fresh onions (either fresh from a farmers market/farm box, or scallions)
Rice vinegar

Mix to taste and eat fresh or from the fridge once chilled.


Anybody have any other ideas? Anybody need any cukes?

Why Visitors Are Good For the Farm (and the Farmer)

Anonymous K made her last visit to the Farm before her great adventure back to the land of Dunkin Donuts, the Patriots, the Red Sox, Mary Lyon, and generally speaking All that is Right with the World. Lucky that she did, too, because she picked these delicious treats, and also spotted the very first zucchini of the season (picture tomorrow--I didn't have my camera). And I thought I was kidding when I wrote yesterday the farm was growing to impress her...


Maisy was on hand for the whole thing, of course, because she can't get enough of her Anonymous K. From the farm blog, Bon Voyage! And don't forget to post any New England farming tips you run across in the bliss of the Pioneer Valley.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 83F
Yesterday's low: 57F
Warnings: Extreme Thirst Alert
Mood of the farm: Thinking of packing up its roots and moving to MA.
Reason to consider a new career: nada

Who Needs Modesty?

And now, because everyone likes to brag occasionally, I'm bringing you the Top 5 Victories of the Farmer. Don't worry, it's still me--tomorrow I will bring you the Top 5 Failures of the Farmer. :) Bragging and I are not the best of friends.

1.) The carrots are somewhat spaced and actually growing!

2.) The Lemon Boy tomatoes are growing like champs, and they have the heirloom irregularities in shape that I love.

3.) This is a watermelon. No really. And there are four more just like it growing in the watermelon's expansive area. Not the expansive area I carved out for it mind you, because spacing is totally overrated. But the watermelon plants sure are thriving on all the bare earth they can find.

4.) The Romaine is growing! In July! In heads! Without bolting! After I almost pulled it in late June!

5.) This one is more a victory of the cucumber plants than of the farmer. But still. With the giant infestation of yellow striped cucumber beetles, who especially like to eat the flowers off before they're pollinated, this is a victory on all counts (and look at all the promising baby cukes around this bigger one).

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 80F
Yesterday's low: 62F
Warnings: The nights sure seem to be getting colder already...
Mood of the farm: Growing as fast as possible in an effort to impress Anonymous K on her final visit to the farm
Reason to consider a new career: Farmer's secret has been found out. She waters the cukes with vinegar and dill instead of actual water to grow dill pickles instead of boring old cukes. But now that H made that secret public, what's left??

Somehow I Thought Peas Only Grew Frozen or Canned

I've been avoiding the urge to post pictures of every last harvest because really, who wants to see a million colanders of lettuce? But since this is a Harvest involving the very first cuke and the very first Wando peas, I couldn't hold back. Farmer confession: not only have I never grown my own peas, I have never ever eaten a fresh, never-frozen pea in my Whole Entire Life.

I've read a lot about growing Wando peas the last few weeks, and I can tell you one thing. The fact that I even have a few to eat is one gigantic miracle. Peas like to be planted when it's cold, they can withstand frost (not only threat of but actual), and their growth slows to a crawl in the July heat. So here we are on July 21st, a full two weeks before these peas are even supposed to be ready, temps in the 80s and occasional 90s, and lo and behold, the peas are delicious, if few in number!





Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 85F
Yesterday's low: 63F
Warnings: Hungry Farmer On the Loose (no really, that's an official weather system warning)
Mood of the farm: growing, quickly and surely
Reason to consider a new career: None, at the moment. Suburban Gardener dropped by the Farm this weekend, and she has pronounced it Officially Not Wrecked. At least for now.

The Farm Is Huge, People.

It's official. The Farm has reached giant-size, and it's only the middle of July. In addition, I managed to crowd the thing all up like the novice farmer that I am, and so not only is it huge, but it's hard to walk around without stepping on any of the many tendrils trying to attach themselves to anything nearby.

Here's the whole crazy mess, including the tomatoes as tall as my Belief in Boston:






































I did several hours of weeding on Wednesday, but there's still a lot more to do...

The lettuce is still going strong, thanks to the cayenne pepper. Whether the pepper keeps the rabbits away or it makes thieves think there's something wrong with the lettuce, I have no idea. But whatever it is, it seems to be working, because this is what the lettuce looked like after I harvested a massive amount for H's taco salad-stravaganza.














And now your latest installment of MiniVeggies.
MiniCuke:















MiniWatermelon:















MiniTomatoes (which are less Mini than when I left!):






























Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 83F
Yesterday's low: 69F
Warnings: Break from Humidity Alert
Mood of the farm: Fearing actions of the Farmer
Reason to consider a new career: With the most crowded Farm of all time, I am considering "Fall Plantings." No really.

Correction #487

Although I haven’t documented the other 486 errors, I feel confident that any middle school biology teacher would be able to find every one. However, I managed to find error 487 myself, and I’d like to correct it. Remember, way back when (aka 3 days ago), when I was cheering on the bees because the tomato and green bean plants had been pollinated? Yeah. Turns out, bees weren’t involved, or they might have been, but they weren’t necessary.

Here’s the deal. Some plants have male and female flowers, like squash and cucumbers, but some plants, such as tomato and bean plants, have complete flowers. The squash and cucumber variety need a pollinator, usually a bee, to transport the pollen from the male flower to the pistil of the female flower, and only female flowers result in fruit. However, plants with complete flowers have the male and female parts in the same flower, so they all make fruit once pollinated. All they need to produce fruit is a good shake from the wind usually, or from an insect nosing around the flower looking for nectar. With all the wind we’ve been having lately, it’s no wonder there are a zillion MiniTomatoes and MiniBeans on the farm…

As you can imagine, I was doing a fair amount of Farmer Worrying about this pollination situation, especially due to the rise of Colony Collapse Disorder as Dr. J so timely mentioned. If you’re not familiar with that crisis, I’ll refer you this official summary of the issue from the USDA for technical information. The short version, however, is the following: bee hives with CCD are full of juvenile honey bees and queens, but no adults. As anyone who has spent ten minutes with an adolescent knows, thousands of adolescents without adults in charge does not lead to much work getting done/honey being produced. Also, and most worrying, no one knows where the adult bees went (though worry not--your cell phone isn't to blame). Maybe their internal GPS systems got out of sync and they can't find the hive, or maybe they died somewhere. But the bottom line is that we're about to see a shortage of pollinators, and that is not good for vegetable growers. Now that I know about the complete flower situation, I’ll stop worrying about the tomatoes and beans, but I still might need to get out the q-tip and hand-pollinate the cucumbers and squash.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 82F
Yesterday's low: 64F
Warnings: farmer with a Q-tip alert
Mood of the farm: there's a lot of elbowing going on...
Reason to consider a new career: this Farmer may not be smarter than a 5th grader

My How You've Bolted

The spinach is officially done for the season. There's nothing t o be ashamed of--everyone's spinach bolts eventually. And the super-late frosts we had this year meant that there was only a short season of the cool weather growing season spinach needs. Here's what it looks like once it bolts to the sky:




















I pulled all of it except one lone spinach plant that hasn't bolted yet, and even though it's supposed to be bitter, I'm going to eat it anyway. I think it's a little bit like a parent who loves her kid even when the kid has the stomach flu. I'm in this farming gig for the long haul, so there are some Trials that I'll need to experience along the way. I'm thinking a good amount of lemon, garlic, and olive oil ought to make these trials easier to swallow.















In other news, I'm sure glad the farm is growing like crazy, but it's looking a bit crowded, no? Luckily, there's enough room for flowers on the watermelon and cucumbers!



























Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 83F
Yesterday's low: 64F
Warnings: Crowding alert
Mood of the farm: full of anti-garage thoughts and Feelings
Reason to consider a new career: oh the crowding!

Who's Got Feelings?

Today on the Farm, the cucumbers and watermelon plants were really showing off all their fancy feelers (in farmer-speak, these would be called tendrils, btw). Think their Feelings are nearly as fancy?





Oh yeah, and the Wando Peas are finally budding. What was taking so long, I do not know... Actually what might have been taking so long is all the energy they put into growing their billion tendrils. Talk about Feelings! The peas totally beat the pants off the cukes and watermelon in the Feelings Department.


Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 91F
Yesterday's low: 70F
Warnings: Thunder and lightning, very very frightening
Mood of the farm: Bursting with Feelings. And MiniVeggies (almost a dozen green beans now!)
Reason to consider a new career can be summed up in one word: anthropomorphizing

Animals Abound

1. Cute while on this side of the fence. (Nice rock sculpture, eh?)
2. There's been a lot of mating going on where the farm is concerned. Here's the thing. For centuries, farmers have appreciated the need of all species to shag. It's natural, and farmers are all about nature. But the real question is this: must they nibble on the zucchini and cucumber leaves while going about their business?

On a more serious note--does anyone know what these are? Are they, as I fear, the dreaded striped cucumber beetles? And if so, does anyone have any ideas about what to do about them while there are only a few? I'm thinking pull them off by hand and hope to keep the numbers small. Thoughts?

3. Oh yeah. Also, here's how awesome the farm looks! Well, except for that crappy part on the right front side. Science-in-action post coming soon in explanation.

Farm Vitals
Yesterday's high: 79F
Yesterday's low: 61F
Warnings: Another great day for growing.
Mood of the farm: rolling its collective eye at all the mating ("kids these days!")
Fun fact of the day: Technically speaking, the only things growing in the garden that aren't fruits (besides the herbs) are spinach, lettuce, carrots, and onions. No really. Think back to 5th grade science.