Although I love tomatoes, there is one part of me that dreads tomato season. I find selling tomatoes challenging. We grow tomatoes for flavor, texture, and thin skins. They are wonderful. Many people want a perfect looking tomato that is perfectly ripe. One can determine ripeness by rolling a tomato in one’s hand and feeling its firmness or ripeness. Many people pinch tomatoes and a couple days later bruises appear – these …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, beets, chard, zucchini, cucumbers, green peppers, beans, Walla Walla sweet onions, and parsley. Field Notes. Ken has been transplanting fall crops. We dug the garlic and it is curing on racks. Ken keeps up with weekly tasks like tying up tomatoes. Fun fact: Daylight shortens three minutes each day during August. Several cultures have a harvest holiday in August; In old Celtic …
Summer’s bounty can extend through the year with a minimum of work. Gardeners and farmers know crops taste best in season, but freezing or canning food at its peak is nearly as good. I take time when we have enough extra to freeze and can “treats” for later use. Today I blanched and froze beans and broccoli. First I nip the ends off the beans Then place them in boiling water. I usually watch for …
Over the course of a season Ken will plant a crop, harvest it, and plant another crop. This sequence is repeated throughout the season. An example of this is one area of the garden where Ken prepared a space in the garden last fall. Then he planted garlic which grew from fall through this week. Once pulled, he had space to transplant fall greens.
The soil was dry. Ken has gotten hoses out to irrigate. This afternoon we had a lovely summer shower. Although it was brief, the dust settled, the steam rose from the ground and the rain barrel filled. All good.
After a morning of picking and putting up some beans and broccoli, I took a break from those pressing summer tasks. I returned to weaving a rug I had started before spring was upon us. It felt good to be at the loom and hear the summer rain. While I was weaving I thought of Ken out in the field. When the summer shower started I am sure he and Oscar took refuge in the …
