Where's the time gone?!

Whew! Where to begin? The boys are back in school and our second plantings are starting to rev up. Our first planting of pretty much everything: tomatoes, zucchini, patty pans, butternut, and acorn squash has given up the ghost. No amount of watering helps at a certain point. We have even had to jump start our compost pile. We have been adding broken hay bales, yard waste, and broken down manure to the pile and it has just sat and baked, instead of break down. We soaked it with the sprinkler for a whole day and have covered it with a tarp. We'll flip it around here in a while to see if it starts composting. I never dreamed I would see the day that zucchini would be hard to grow and you had to work for compost. One thing I can say with no uncertainty: whenever we have had a need, God has met it. We have food to eat, water to drink, and when a bill comes due, the money always seem to be there.

I only have a short animal adventure story this time. We moved some hay bales out of the end of our greenhouse to make room for planting, and there was a HUGE ground hog den under the pallets. My boys solution? Left over bottle rockets that couldn't be shot because of the fire hazard!! So we let the boys shoot some rockets down in the hole, in the hopes that the critter was in there somewhere and it would scare him/them off. It must have worked, because it sits empty. Now let's just hope we don't have a cave in from the dry ground and huge den!!!

Last but not least, some recipes for Patty Pan Squash:

1) Cut them in slices to make "patties" and throw them on the grill with a little oil and salt.
2) Take the patty slices and put olive oil and Parmesan cheese on them and bake until light brown.
3) Cut in half, scoop seeds out, and fill with cooked hamburger, cheddar, and BBQ sauce and bake. You could also use sausage, mozzarella, and pasta sauce.

Herb growing tips

Annual herbs are meant to be cut and used often. Once an annual herb flowers, it will put all its energy into producing seeds and the leaves will wither. I find it's best to leave at least half of the foliage when you cut some off. If you find you are using it so often it is looking bare, have more than one plant. 

If you grow your herbs outside, and decide at the end of summer you don't want to bring them in, let it flower and put the whole seed head in a zipper bag and grow your own in the spring. Or you can leave the pot or ground alone until next spring and you will have volunteer plants. 

Tomato Grow Box Tips

Here are some tips for my customers that bought "grow boxes" from us:

1) They need to be watered about every other day. If you need to go longer, you can put the whole box in a rubbermaid tub or something similar and fill it about 6 inches with water. The ends are just spot welded, and the water will seep into the box. 

2) They require fertilizer about every 3 to 4 weeks. Any vegetable or tomato fertilizer will do, just make sure they are kept wet afterwards.

3) You can use a tomato cage in the box or put a stake (broom handle, metal rod, etc) in the ground right next to the box to support it. Tie the stems to the stake with old rag strips or yarn.

4) If you have trouble telling the ripeness of the fruit by color, it is ready to pick when the shoulder of the fruit (the part next to the stem) is no longer firm. You must use this method for Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Golden Jubilee, and Pineapple. 

5) All of our tomato plants are indeterminate, meaning they grow and produce fruit for as long as the life of the plant, they do not fruit all at once.

6) If you have any questions, please leave a comment on this blog, or go to my facebook page and like it. 

Thanks, and I truly hope these plants nourish your body and your mind!

Tomato plant trivia

Did you know:

* when planting, pinching off the shoots half way up the stem of tomato plants and burying the stem half way up will produce a stronger root system? Each "hair" on the stem is a potential root!

* a lot of tomato plant disease comes from the soil? Pinching shoots off about 6-10 inches up the bottom of the plant will keep soil from splashing on the leaves when it rains or you water. Or you can use landscape fabric around the base of the plant.

* tomato plants like calcium. This can be added by dissolving an antacid tablet in a cup of water and pouring it in the bottom of the hole you plant in.

* you can always spot the tomato farmer in the crowd: they have green skin and yellow arm pits ( from the leaves and pollen )

Random shots

Little Logan warming his bare feet in the mulch. 

Just finishing up on planting this plot.

Loaded and ready to roll. 

Another animal adventure...

Another adventurous week on the farm. Friday night our family attended a memorial service for the son of the woman who was my second mother. I had not seen her or her children and grandchildren for many years, and it was a bittersweet reunion. We get home from Kansas City at about 11:00, only to find a opossum lazily munching eggs in one of our nesting boxes. All the chickens were accounted for, all that is but Aggie, the chicken I adore, my mother hen. My husband was furious because he was sure this smelly pest has taken her from me. I was not so sure in my heart: there were no feathers on the floor, a tell tale sign of a varmint's chicken dinner. Aggie is pretty foxy, and I was hoping she was just roosting in a nearby tree until morning. Now, the story gets a little rough at this point, and I'm sorry for any trauma this story causes. Aaron decided that he was not going to use his pistol to kill the "killer" because he wasn't sure the bullet wouldn't penetrate the coop wall, so he sent the boys into the house, and decided a potato fork would be this opossum's fate. I won't give details, but needless to say, the pest will never eat another unhatched chick again. Now, back to my Aggie, that little cluck came traipsing out of the darkness after Aaron killed the opossum, and trotted right into the coop, and hopped right up onto her clutch. We had a great laugh at this point, kind of giddy from the relief that not only was she OK, but she patiently waited for us to clear the way for her. Now you have some idea as to why she is my favorite. Getting up early for the Columbia Farmer's Market was REALLY hard, but we all four did it, and as always, we met a lot of new people, gave a lot of advice (wanted or otherwise), and sold our plants. We are going to start going to the Friday market at Smiley and Providence, so I hope to see some of you there! And please, if you have any questions regarding my plants or produce, just ask!!!

Like father, like son

Another great week has passed at Humble Hill and we did a fair amount of business at the Columbia Farmers Market. The frostiness still has some skittish about putting plants in the ground so we haven't hit our peak yet. Yesterday Aaron and I were taking turns weeding in the greenhouse with a scuffle hoe, and Ethan was watching us, and it suddenly dawned on him that most of the "weeds" were actually volunteer tomato plants from last year. He called an immediate halt to the work, and proceeded to pull up all the healthier looking seedlings, and proclaimed that even though we didn't want them, HE did! So Aaron, bless his heart, tilled up a separate spot for Ethan to have his very own garden, fenced and all. Now as to whether or not Ethan will keep it cared for remains to be seen. Who knows, he may put us to shame with his spot! As for the hen house, we still don't have any chicks yet, but we now have two broody hens, or "clucks" as some call them, so we're excited for that to happen. Tonight is laundry and dishwasher soap making night, I'm out of both and I can't put it off any longer I guess.

 PS - Aaron learned the hard way that the Bible means it when it says to keep the Sabbath holy and not work: a nail in the foot and two times biting his tongue was pretty convincing.

A happy birthday

Spent my 40th birthday morning at the Columbia Farmers Market. We did even better than last weekend, even though it rained the whole time. I'm starting to get a complex, they are calling for rain next Saturday, too! We have added a couple of anchors to the big greenhouse this morning since they are calling for high winds. I do believe if the wind caught it just right, it would roll clear over our house, taking everything in it's path out with it. Ethan had a cooler with some crawfish in it in the greenhouse and a raccoon came in there and ate them. :( He was pretty sad. My favorite chicken, Aggie, is broody already, so we're going to let her hatch some chicks. We've lost 2 roosters and 2 hens to roaming dogs here lately so we have room for more. That's the pain of having open range chickens: they get to eat as much grass and bugs as they like, which produces very healthy and delicious eggs, but they're at the mercy of varmints. But the roosters sure do their best to protect their ladies! Well, I have to get off here and practice the accompaniment songs for church tonight. Drop a comment or come see me at the market, I love the encouragement!

Market, rain, and a patriotic chicken

I hope everyone has a satisfying Easter with their families. Our first day at the Columbia Farmer's Market was better than we expected. It rained for an hour and was very chilly so most shoppers were not in the mood to buy bedding plants, but there were those die hard few (people of my own heart) that bought our tomato plants to get a head start. On a side note: when we got home there was "evidence" of a chicken in our mudroom and the door was ajar. I called out and didn't hear anything, so I shut the door. Then I hear some rustling under a piece of cardboard....a chicken was nesting in a box of the boys' left over bottle rockets. I guess we'll call her Sparky.

Hoping for no frost!

We have spent a couple of hours putting insulated boxes over the tomato plants we have already put out. We have spent the week preparing our plants to sell at the farmer's market. Some of our 4" potted varieties already have small tomatoes on them! It's crazy how fast everything is happening right now. Aaron painted my sign today and we went and picked up the lettering today. I'll post a pic of our set up tomorrow. Have a quiet Good Friday tomorrow, my friends. Try to swing by the market if you're in Columbia Saturday morning - stop and say hi, I love the encouragement!

We went to the Columbia Farmer's Market vendor meeting last night, and took the plunge! We are now official vendors there. We are planning to attend the market next Saturday with some tomato bedding plants we have started from seed.

Golden Jubilee

Striped Roman Tomato

Sale table summer of 2011

Seedling trays

Finishing touches on the high tunnel

Tilling in the high tunnel

The seedling and herb greenhouse

Progress of a new beginning...

What will this year hold for us? With a new, larger green house and an expanded business plan, I believe the possibilities are endless. What a great feeling! We are expanding into selling tomato plants in two sizes: 6 pack cells and 4 inch pots. We have also decided to branch out and join the Columbia Farmer's Market this year. I have attended one member meeting and I like the idea of reaching a broader market, and getting to interact with more people. The boys are really getting into the farmer's market idea, too! Ethan has already claimed his right to sell lemonade at the stand.
Please be patient, as I am not an experienced blogger. I will try to keep things relevant, timely, and simple!