Farmer Friday

cucumbers and melons

This has been a hard sad week with the sudden and unexpected death of my little brother last Friday. So I have spent a lot of time staring off into space, forgetting what I was going to do next and sometimes just crying. That said the garden grows and life goes on.  The chickens and garden gave me something to focus on this week. There were squash,  cucumbers and cantaloupe. 

Tomatoes and squash

There were even four big tomatoes. 

Spaghetti squash, almost ready

There will be an abundance of spaghetti squash. 

Black Copper Marans eggs

One of my oldest Black Copper Marans hens is laying again so all of her eggs are going in the incubator for now. For what it's worth the egg on the right is about the right color; the other two are washed out in the pic.

eclipse picture

I watched the eclipse like everyone else although I couldn't really see anything. 

Red Kuri winter squash

There are some Red Kuri squash finally. This is a new one for me and taking its time to put on fruits. 

bean stem

empty bed, all done

I cut down the old bean plants and stripped off the few good pods. Some of the stems were really thick. I left the roots, hopefully covered with nitrogen fixing bacteria, to rot in place. Later this week I'll pull up the drip lines, tidy the edges with the rake and pile on some more compost. I think I'll have time for some salad turnips and baby mustard greens before it's time to plant garlic. 

The cucumber and melon arches in the creek side garden are made of scrap fencing and are not up to the weight this year. I will have to use cattle panels next time since these are collapsing. 

Farmer Friday & #eatwhatyougrow

cleaning up a bed in the back garden

I cleaned up a bed in the back garden this week where a few puny beets were left. I cleared off the weeds, loosened the soil with my digging fork and added about 3 inches of fresh compost.

collards

I planted out some Georgia Collards. Some were totally decimated by slugs and cabbage worms but I planted the little green sticks anyway. I know that now they are in good soil they will grow quickly.

a couple of pounds of green beans

There were some green beans but not as many as there have been.

some squash, cucumbers

There have been some squash and cucumbers. And even a cantaloupe. 

The young ducks are beginning to lay

The Ducks that hatched this spring have begun to lay this week. 

Capt. Hook's little brother; almost twins

Captain Hook

roasted beets and potatoes with fresh herbs

#eatwhatyougrow I discovered a couple of volunteer potatoes in the bed and roasted them with the beets and fresh chopped herbs for dinner one night.

Honeyboat Delicata

The Delicata squash in the front yard wilted badly and just went crispy so I picked all the squash and brought them in. I picked out the ripest looking one and cooked it in the microwave since I was in a hurry that day. It wasn't that sweet so I am thinking they need to sit and ripen up some more. I'll leave them for awhile and try again.

Black Locust seedling?

I discovered a volunteer along the path to the chicken house. I'm pretty sure it's a Black Locust seedling. I'd rather not have a thorny plant that close to the pathway but it's doing so well I really don't want to bother it. In this picture it's about 3 feet tall but it's taller now. At least it's thorns are smaller than the giant Honey Locust in my front yard, that tree has wicked thorns 3-4 inches long and sharp as needles. Locust trees are pioneer species and can host nitrogen fixing bacteria on their roots.

Farmer Friday

almost 2 pounds of basil

pesto!

Farmer Friday! A little late getting this done, I've had a ton of stuff to do this week and today. The other day I picked a bunch of basil and made pesto.

cherry tomatoes

More cherry tomatoes, still a lot of splits and rots from the rain. Not as many as before, and some of the plants seem to have a blight or something. I'll be cutting them out this week as soon as I have time.

trying to get in the garden gate!

Wild asters, lambsquarters, volunteer tomatoes and a giant squash vine are clogging up the access to the new garden, but I did manage to get in to pick beans.

picking beans

part of the bean harvest

I was worried that I wouldn't have enough beans to fill my pre-paid orders, but there were plenty, almost 10 pounds!

squash, lots of gold patty pan

More squash of course. this week there were a lot of gold patty pans, with a few of each of the other kinds.

Armenian and Market Moore cucumbers

A good amount of both kinds of cucumbers. I also picked some greens, kale, chard and collards, but I figure you've already seen them. I didn't have time today to pick herbs and flowers, so I'll do that in the morning before I go to market.

Harvest Monday and #eatwhatyougrow

a mess of green beans

Harvest Monday once again, hooking up with Dave over at Our Happy Acres. I got over 3 pounds of green beans this week from the older patch. The new bed of bush beans is up and off to a great start with the rain.

more squash

There was a good amount of squash this week and I only had one left over after market on Saturday so that is always a plus.

Hales cantaloupe and Black Tail Mt. watermelon

I got some more watermelons and cantaloupes. They have been pretty good tasting.

Georgia collards

I made the first picking on the new bed of collard greens. They have really started growing fast since the rains have come.

Armenian cucumber

Market More cucumber

I picked one Armenian and a couple of Market More cucumbers. The Market More have had the slightest tinge of bitterness to the skin. I think probably because sometimes they still don't get enough water. but they are still tasty, they just have to be peeled.

I cleaned up an almost empty bed of carrots and also found some volunteer new potatoes. 

cucumber & yogurt salad

#eatwhatyougrow Besides having cucumber in regular salad I've been making a cucumber salad with yogurt and chopped fresh herbs.

omelet in the making

ready to eat

I used up another dozen silkie eggs in an omelet for lunch on Sunday. Along with a couple of collard leaves and some parsley. I also added a lot of Monterrey Jack cheese. Mom says there is no such thing as too much cheese.

Harvest for week of July 24-30
July 24
 large tomatoes      1#  1oz

July 26
Scarlet Kale     1# 12oz
Lancinato kale 1# 8oz
Collards           2# 0oz
New potatoes        12oz
carrots                   3oz
Armenian cuke  1# 12oz

July 27
watermelon   11# 0oz
cantaloupe    5#  7oz

July 28
Cherry tomato 5# 3oz
cucumber        12oz
green beans 3# 12oz
squash       28# 3oz
basil 2oz
sage 2 oz
oregano2 oz
curly parsley 3oz
flat parsley 3oz
rosemary 1oz

July 29
basil 6oz
sage 2oz
curly parsley 4oz
flat parsley 4oz

July30
large tomatos 1# 8oz

TOTALS for the week
large tomato  2# 9oz
kale                3# 4oz
collards         2#  0oz
new potatoes      12 oz
Armenian cuke 1#12oz
watermelon    11# 0oz
cantaloupe      5#  7oz
cherry tomato 5# 3oz
cucumber        12oz
green beans 3# 12oz
squash        28# 3oz
fresh herbs  1# 11oz

GRAND TOTAL 66# 4oz

Farmer Friday

Georgia Collards

I picked a couple of bunches of collards this week, the first of the new planting.

Armenian cucumber

I found one large Armenian cucumber. There are a lot of small ones out there, so maybe next week there will be a bunch. Did you know that Armenian cukes are not true cucumbers? They are actually a kind of melon that tastes like cucumber. That is why they are burpless.

Black Tail Mt watermelon and Hales cantaloupes

I found some more ripe melons. One of the cantaloupes was splitting so I had it for breakfast. It was pretty tasty.

miscellany of veggies

There were a handful of carrots and some volunteer potatoes from a bed I was cleaning up, along with a Market Moore cuke and some large tomatoes.

bush beans

a mess of beans

I picked a mess of green beans. There were a few yellow wax in there too. I do believe that some of the Kentucky Wonder pole bean seed got mixed up in with the Provider bush beans when I saved them last year tho. Some of the bean plants are running like crazy.

assorted squash

Of course there was a box of squash. Lots of the yellow Gold Rush zucchini this week. It's funny how each week there is a different variety that makes up the bulk of the pick. I also picked cherry tomatoes, but forgot to take a picture. Of course I've posted plenty already.

cucumber salad

#eatwhatyougrow And for some eat what you grow ideas. I chopped about half the Armenian cuke into bits, chopped a handful of curly parsley and some basil, along with a small slicing tomato. I mixed it up with some plain yogurt and salt and pepper. It made a tasty and refreshing salad for lunch.

eggs, parsley, chard

For dinner I used up about a dozen little silkie eggs, a handful of chard and parsley and made an omelet. I used some shredded mozzarella for the cheese. I didn't think to take a pic of the finished product.