Growing A Farmer: June 2013

Happy Summer!!!
I was on vacation last week in Florida but I'm back! I've been running ever since to try and catch up, hence the late and short blog post. Enjoy!

Harvest

While I was away the Squash and Zucchini really came on. Here's what happens if you don't harvest Zucchini every other day....

Cucumbers are also in and pair perfectly with this sweet thai basil.

The farm hosted a meeting of senior staff at EatWell DC. A few of them helped me harvest peas and carrots.

Chioggia Guardsmark Beets

Yellow Crookneck Squash and 2 types of Zucchini

Green Beans

Sage, Mint, Dill, Thyme, Oregano

Production and Distribution

Restaurant deliveries were abundant and beautiful.

Logan Tavern

Grillfish Delivery

Happy Chef

Happy Farmer

My first Mesclun. I had to thin out some plantings of Romaine, Red Sails Lettuce and Raddichio so I cut it all into small leaves, mixed and triple washed to make a lovely salad mix.

Cultivation and Maintenance

Apart from the weeds having taken off while I was away, I had a few fires to put out when I got back. My apple trees have what appears to be Cedar-Apple rust and the tomatoes may have bacterial spot. I treated tried to diagnose and treat each problem. Fingers crossed.

Cedar Apple Rust, I think

Pepper Plants before wheel-hoeing

Pepper Plants after, much better :)

Massive Spider in my space

I caught it and threw it in the woods

Planting

Nope. I need to get to that this week. Can you believe it's time to start fall plantings already? Where is this year going?

Eating Well

Two of our chefs came out to the farm and prepared lunch for the senior meeting. The topic of the meeting was the importance of local food. I love that EatWell is taking the time to educate their staff on why the farm matters and why they invest in other local farmers too.

The big bowl was an amazing farm salad, harvested that day

Senior staff Eating Well

They worked up an appetite

Grillfish Entree with our baby beets and carrots

Puddy Time

Puddy had a little run in with a wild turkey this week. Puddy thought she was fascinating. The turkey however was a mom with several babies and proceeded to make such a racket I ran to see what was going on. Luckily Puddy had the good sense to get scared and run away. My money was on momma turkey.

The ticks have been out of control this week. I'm trying a home made tick repellant now with Geranium and Citronella essential oils. 25 drops of oil in 1/4 cup water. I put a little bit on Puddy's collar and also some on my boots. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, she's still stinkin' cute...

Two of our restaurants were right on the Capital Pride Parade route this weekend so here's a little Pride love from the farm. Thanks Aida for putting this together....

All the colors of the rainbow, all pics from the farm

Rodent Control

We also had a visitor on the back patio at the farm house. I don't mind the non poisonous snakes, so long as they don't sneak up on me.

Harvest

Harvested this week: Strawberries, Chard, Kale, Sugar Snap Peas, Snow Peas, Shelling Peas, Spinach, Beets, Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Turnips, Radishes, Watermelon Radishes, Choi, Broccoli Raabe, Microgreens (Sweet Corn), Arugula, and Mint.

Rainbow Chard

Lettuces and Greens Galore

Easter Egg Radishes- Just the purple ones

Snow Peas

Butterhead Lettuce

Snow Peas and Sugar Snaps

Butterhead, Green Bibb, Romain, and Red Sails Lettuce

The first of the Zucchini!!!!

Production and Distribution

Here's a peak at our new washing station in the barn. It got a good cleaning this week and is in full swing for lots of summer harvesting, cleaning and packing.

I delivered twice this week which will probably continue through the summer. There is a lot of food to go around. Here I am dropping off peas, turnips, lettuce, beets and watermelon radishes to The Pig.

Cultivation and Maintenance

We did A LOT of weeding this week. I am actually going to be away next week so I wanted to get the farm in as a good a shape as I could knowing that nothing will stop growing just because I am away, that includes the weeds. While I was at it I saw lots of life happening. The Squash, Zucchini and Cucumbers are in full bloom and buzzing with pollinators.

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar on the Dill

Lady Bug on the Chard

Planting

The melons I planted last week are sprouting and seem happy in their new home in the orchard. I also planted a second succession of Green Beans, Squash and Zucchini on Sunday. Those should hopefully be coming up when I get back in a week. Luckily we had lots of rain and will be getting some more while I'm gone so the ground should stay warm and moist to help them germinate.

Sugar Baby Watermelon Sprouting

Eating Well

I got to have Brunch at Commissary this week where I enjoyed a few delicious dishes from the farm. Chef Ben makes a killer blueberry muffin which is perfectly complemented with Strawberry jam from our farm's berries.