7/1 – 7/5
Tasks:
Blanched and Froze: Broccoli, Cabbage, Green Beans, Zucchini, summer squash
Froze: Rhubarb, Black Raspberries
Jarred dried herbs
Sprayed BT
Planted: hot peppers
Sowed: turnips
Cultivated: Okra, eggplant, potatoes
Bought Preserving supplies
Sprayed sulfur on trees because of Cedar Rust
Watered: peppers down the hill, tomatoes
Pulled up: cabbage plants, turnips,
Weed-whipped: around raised beds and fire pit
Gave Tour to Admissions staff member
Harvested Soft neck Garlic
At Farm:
Collected/Froze Mulberries from trees
Notes:
Garlic: We harvested 128 heads of soft neck and we are saving 40 of the largest heads for seeding. Soft neck garlic can be braided after they’ve first been given some time to dry. Garlic is harvested when the cloves are formed and are best harvested by shovel, brushed off by hand, and tied in bunches of twenty and hung to dry.
Summer Squash: We currently have approximately 28 Yellow Straight summer squash plants which have done very well. THIS IS TOO MUCH. This year we have been overwhelmed by all of the plants producing at once. In the future we should try stagger planting LESS plants so that we can manage them without getting too frazzled. Currently our freezer is full of all the squash and zucchini we’ll need and the plants will keep producing through the summer if we keep up with them.
Zucchini: We currently have 22 plants which are also doing very well, and unlike the yellow squash, it is producing at a steady pace that we can handle. This is a good number, but a few more plants wouldn’t hurt, as it seems to be preferable to yellow squash by visitors.
Stagger Planting: We are thinking of developing a weekly routine where we seed block or plant small quantities of produce which does not store well, such as cabbage. It would be good to block about 10 cabbage plants, a week or some variation of that. This way we would have more manageable and regular crop throughout the summer, instead of being overwhelmed in times with produce that does not store well. We have focused a lot this summer on what we can preserve for the house, but perhaps we can better manage what we can’t necessarily store for the winter, but can eat in the summer and give away.