O! hoe the seasons change!

I believe I went to my last farmer's market for the season last week. I may still sell apples, the remaining tomatoes, and those ever everbearing strawberries by the roadside, but my first summer as a farmer has nearly passed. There's still some hoeing to do, but germination has slowed down and each row hoed goes quickly.

Fall will be heavy with the wood chopping, trellis building, and repairs. The strawberries will need winter protection soon enough. But I know I'll be germinating seeds by early January and the whole thing begins anew.

Early notes for next year's garden: x4 on the green beans! +sweet corn! (I heard Chicago was paying a dollar an ear this year)

I saw a tree yesterday that had the audacity to already have a dozen yellow leafs.

It's Quite Hoet Out.

Man that title is terrible.

Finished going through the strawberry patch again. It's looking strong in most spots, but my late replants to fix the bare patches from washout haven't begun runnering yet. I'll just have to take care of that in the spring.

The roadside tomato stand is working well. I make as much there as at a market. But the heat is ridiculous. Heat index has been over 110 the past few times I've gone out. One lady said she couldn't imagine a worse job. Thank you for the kind words, ma'am.

I have tomatoes in the following colors: red, pink, green, yellow, purple, orange.

There are a few black ones too, but I don't sell those.

Hoed Every Row

A little behind schedule, but every row has been hoed.

The tomatoes are beginning to turn red. The cherry tomatoes have been yellow/orange for a couple weeks now, but I've ate all of them instead of taking them to market.

I have a bunch of broccoli that has been big for a while, but a few of them have only now begun putting on the actually head of broccoli. I don't know what's up with them, but I sure wish they'd hurry up.

I also dug up some potatoes after the last rain. I planted a variety called All Blue, but the potatoes themselves are purple. They're a little hardier than the other varieties. I haven't figured out the best way to prepare them yet, but last night I cut them up and fried them like breakfast potatoes. They were alright that way. I might try them in a stew instead.

When It Rains, Hoe Boy, It Pours!

Five and 3/10ths inches in 36 hours here. After about 2 weeks of no rain. Quite the wash out.

I hoed today and monday, and am 10 rows deep. I plan on going out again this evening and being done with the field by at least Saturday.

The tomatoes are starting to turn, I'm getting a lot of cherry tomatoes but they haven't made it to the market yet because they're just too good eating.

My tomato trellis end-posts aren't quite anchored well enough, and the pulling tension combined with the sudden rains have made a few of them lean. Toads have taken up residence in the ensuing 2 inch gaps created by the leaning posts.

Logo by Hoenest Farmette

Hoes & Spades

After visiting Kansas City for the Honest Farmette's family reunion this weekend, I was looking forward to knocking out the rest of the weeds in the strawberry patch. My Uncle was one step ahead of me, and called for another weeding party. This one featured hoes and spades. I wielded one of the latter for the first time, quite efficiently if I do say so myself. Together we got it all down to three aisles by eight. After breakfast the task was continued, and at noon, the field was weed free. Hooooooooray!

At its worst, it took 2.5 hours to go through a row. Now, with a hoe, it takes 30-45 minutes for a row and aisle together. Four rows a day is the new goal, and that'll put me through the field in 6 days. I think that sounds easy now.

A New Hoep

I had a weed party in my strawberry field on the 5th at 6 am, and seven of the best people I know showed up. We had two hoeing the aisles and six in the rows, pulling by hand. Most just needed a quick tug, but one of the grasses was particularly challenging and required a spade. At one point I joked that the vining morning glory almost made it fun. It was a joke, and only an almost, because it was not fun at all. It was however extremely satisfying to see the field weeded and back within optimal hoe effectiveness. Also encouraging were the high number of runners each of the plants gave off. A few of the most impressive ran a few feet with two rooted nodes and a third stepping out. The party concluded with strawberries from the everbearing rows.