Hey Folks!
We’ve always heard about raccoons eating people’s sweet corn, but have never really had a problem. They would eat an ear here or there, but not too much. This week we learned what raccoons can do to sweet corn. We went to pick some sweet corn that we watching closely and it was going to be just about perfect! Apparently it was perfect, because in a 1000 foot row of sweet corn, we found 13 ears 🙁 The raccoons had decimated the patch!
On a more positive note, the tomatoes have started to come on like gang busters. It’s looking like a beautiful crop! This kind of production usually begins earlier in the year, but the wet spring delayed pretty much everything around here. At the farm, we like to say “We may not be the first, but we’ll be the last,” which isn’t a good motto for a sprint, but we like to think of this a marathon and we know we can be there at the end.
We had zucchini in the high tunnel (greenhouse with no heat) once again this year. We had hoped to get a bunch to you earlier, but have a hard time getting the bees to go into the tunnel. Without the squash bees pollinating the zucchini, the plants put on fruit but the zucchini never get larger around than a quarter. I like to call them mon petit zucchini, Ryan just calls them “Not Worth It.”
I want you all to know that we talk about vegetables, fruits, and managing vegetables and fruits daily in our house. This is probably not a surprise, but you need to know that we talk about them in the dead of winter, on date nights (in winter), while shoveling snow, at family gatherings, and anywhere else you can imagine. Just in case that is not enough vegetable talk, I worked at the Butler County Fair last week as superintendent of the horticulture crops. I’m happy to say that we had more vegetable entries in this year’s fair, than the past 5 years I have been there.
We also had fun at the Dwight Czech festival over the weekend. In addition to games, food, water slides, and a car show, we participated in the parade at the end of the weekend. This year, we took the little tractor and water wheel transplanter. The kids rode the transplanter, Ryan drove the tractor, and Joel (dressed in a carrot costume) and I walked along. As any good parade float does, we threw out tons and tons of candy. But if you were lucky enough to be at the parade, you will know that we also threw okurky (or cucumbers for you non-Czech speaking folks) – and I mean threw. Hope you all have a great week. Enjoy the produce!
Your Farmers,
Ryan, Katie, and Crew
What’s in this week’s bag?
Tomatoes
Broccoli
Zucchini
Onion
Cucumber
Eggplant
Yellow Squash*
Cauliflower*
*indicates items only in the full bag