finally it is raining and a good day to write you all.
today was a good day, milked , transplanted lettuce for the fall. All crop plantings for the year are done, now we have weeding, harvesting and preparing beds for next year and plant them into cover crops. I am so excited to take time to get ahead. By dividing the fields into 4' wide beds with 14" aisles it is so much easier to prepare a 4' bed then a 12' wide bed in a day.
It has been very dry the last few weeks and we had to irrigate That means going around and moving the hoses to the next bed, checking water timers for being clogged with little pieces from the well, checking sprinklers if they are clogged by insect larvae, pulling big weeds that prevent the water from spraying far....we even started watering potatoes. They are flowering and starting to make little potatoes and they need moisture to do well. It is very satisfying to see plantings perk up after a drink, like we do.
The workers are changing. Lupe is back to high school next week, Kira went back to college the week after (She has been picking the flowers and making the bouquets and bagging all the greens) and Sal is taking a job building yurts across the country. It looks like Myrm, a friend from a new forming community in the area is able to help the second half of September and October. We had a great season and I am glad we all worked well together. As fall comes on the students from the SLU Greenhouse who work for part of their shares and classes from SLU will help to bring the harvest in. I am starting to relax a little, we are past peak.
Bob is still selling at the Canton Farmers Market and Nathaniel and I took a break while delivering CSA boxes to market.
here is a recipe for zucchini soup I made two weeks ago and all Birdsfooters loved it:
fry 1-2 onions and garlic in oil in the soup pot, add thyme, salt and pepper
add 2 -4 zucchini/summer squash, one carrot cut into small pieces and add water to almost cover
add three tomatoes and boil till all is soft
put in the blender till smooth
it should come out as a thick smooth soup that is soo delicious.
peace Dulli
p.s we have bulk tomatoes for canning $18/20lb