2009 HISTORY
9/3/09 - The tomatoes are starting to come in, as are
our peppers. On Sunday Bradley and Dominic picked up a
pick-up load of compost, and I have managed to get twelve
bins of topsoil to the Farm. We will start preparing for winter by
laying down soil and compost as this season's crops die out.
In the spring we will plant, put down newspaper,
then add mulch for a "lasagna" treatment. Makes me hungry just
thinking about it!!
We have started many radish seeds, and seeded flats of lettuce and
spinach for fall crops. We're up over 230 pounds now!
8/19/09 - We are trying to get things straightened up for our Open
House this Sunday from 1 to 4. We've dug most of the rest of the potatoes
and the tomatoes are getting ripe. Our beans are still really producing but the peas
have about given up the ghost (and they really look sad when they do!).
Some nice cucumbers and zucchini this past week have
helped us reach 170 pounds !
Some of our donated plants are doing fine, but I'm afraid
others were just in the flats too long -- we'll see if the season lasts
long enough for them to come around.
We're putting together a scarecrow this Sunday - come join the fun!!
8/3/09 - Up to 91 pounds of vegies to Forgotten
Harvest so far -- we had a great harvest yesterday, including
cucumbers, tomatoes, and potatoes (and 6 strawberries). The corn
is showing silk on a few plants, and although we haven't picked much yet
the eggplant and peppers are finally looking better. I read that it was the coldest
July ever - and that, combined with the locally dismal rainfall, meant that warm
season items will be a bit behind schedule. We have recieved some
donated tomato, pepper, cucumber, and melon plants -- it is a good thing we reserved a
few beds so that we were able to accomodate them! We mowed
down the fallow beds and a bit of the compost bed, so things really
look neat and tidy.
Connie, Maisie, Bradley, Mary, Odette, Jan, Sharon, Jerry,
Linda, and I were all there on Sunday -- what a productive day!! Thank you to
all of our wonderful volunteers.
7/17/09 - Things are certainly growing - vegies, and weeds too!
We took one small cucumber with the picking yesterday,
and lots of tomatoes are on the plants,although only one
cherry type is showing any red. The beans, peas, and radishes
are beautiful. We actually even have one corn plant that is knee high!
7/9/09 - A good harvest today - lots of herbs, some radish,
and garlic scapes, along with the regular greens. We are up to 27 pounds
to Forgotten Harvest so far.
We have not had much rain in the past 3 weeks - some
of the plants, especially in the west beds, look like
they are yellowing. It may be lack of nitrogen, so we are adding
cottonseed meal before we hand water! All but about
20 feet of the east beds are set up with emitters now, so the
watering chore is much smoother. We've seen small rabbits about
the farm - inside the fencing. Two last night when I stopped in a little after 8 (I
gently shooed them out through a gap in the south gate - then I tied up
more fence material). One tiny one this morning - we don't know how
he got in, or how or even if he got out. He wasn't big enough to eat much!
6/29/09 - We picked peas, radishes and lettuces
yesterday - and today gave our first contributions to Forgotten
Harvest (10 pounds). We've heard from our largest private contributer this
week, and had a visit from our contributer who is farthest away (Arizona) !
We had workdays with the lowest and highest volunteer
participation of the year in the same week.
Our bank balance is at it's lowest point since the beginning -
under $300 - maybe that will swing the other way too!!
We will be finishing up the drip irrigation distribution lines, and keep weeding,
edging, and harvesting this week if the weather cooperates.