No! Wait!

I spent the whole morning out in the garden...but I didn't go to the BACK of the garden...I had a mission and it was located in the front...you can't see EVERYTHING!..Will comes out this evening and he says..."get a long sleeved shirt and some scissors - I'll get some buckets" Well, I know very well what that means. It means cutting squash! But it hasn't rained in the longest time, and the squash were setting lots of babies but they aren't REALLY growing fast - but that was yesterday, wasn't it? Half an hour later, I had a bucket (of the 5 gallon kind) of yellow squash and a bucket of zucchini. The CSA doesn't start for another two weeks! I kept thinking - 'stop! stop! It's not time!...but the squash says HAHAHA.

I told Will "We're having Spinach and Feta Cheese Pizza tonight" He says...'We don't have enough spinach" and I think... oh yes we do.

Things Happen So Fast

One minute there's just a whole field of dirt....empty greenhouse frames and mulched herb beds covered in black plastic. You look at it all and think...can we do this again? It seems like so much - to start from nothing every year and turn it into something big and alive and beautiful. Then you turn over the dirt and till and plow and start seed flats and transplant little seedlings into peat pots and little bit by little bit - it gets done...some pictures from this morning.

dill

flowering tomatoes

cilantro

beets

...and we were so anxious back in January and February - we planted WAY too many tomatoes. Before we knew it, we had all we could possibly put in the ground and many more. We put up a little sign..Tomatoes For Sale. I've sold 60 plants since yesterday. What were we thinking?Today it is around 90 degrees. This not only means that it is hot...it also means you have to go out in the heat and drag hoses around and water stuff. No rain lately. That's farming, though.

Work Work Work

Plant Plant Plant...

Here's Hannah

you can see what an excellent job she is doing...

Will calls her 'The Planting Machine'

Meanwhile, there are csa members all over the place doing the hard work of getting ready for the season: re-planting the spinach and covering it up; planting the little okra plants in amongst the garlic; we had to do this because we're flat out of room. But it ought to work - the only little problematic thing will be pulling up the garlic when the time comes and not puling up the okra along with it! setting out the teeny tiny pak choi, and also the rainbow chard;

some are too young to really help, but they're out in the sun in the morning, and that's good. Little Jackson wasn't so sure about all of this at first, but he got with the programWhen it's time to go, everybody gets fresh cut mint, a mint plant if they want one, and a bundle of green onions - these are the things that say 'ready or not, it's time'. Some folks carry their loot to the car, and others just stuff it into their purse! all in all, a wonderful morning. This CSA thing is the smartest thing we've ever done. SUCH nice people! And many of them spend the week in an office, and the opportunity to come out to a garden and listen to the birds and get worn out with this kind of work gives them renewed energy to meet the work week once again. I would say it's a 'win, win' if that weren't the corniest thing one could say.

Will Says..."I have a project for you!"

you see, that's the problem with farming...endless projects. And that's ok. Unless the other guy has a project that involves not him, but you!...Turns out it was relatively harmless - and well-meaning. He was going to go on a MOWING EXTRAVAGANZA. Translated, this means 'we got the mower back from the shop again, and I'm going to mow everything in sight before the mower breaks!'

He wanted me to go out and cut a boatload of mint, because it is so beautiful and so ready to harvest (early as it is!) and he didn't want to blow grass all up in it before I got a basketful to dry...and might I add, he completely re-worked the herb dryer this winter so it would be ready for just such an occassion...so who can argue with all of that?

Out I went...he thought i should use a knife, but I knew that scissors would do the trick just fine/

A giant laundry basket full of mint later - you would not know that I had even touched it. The mint beds look exactly like they did before - but the dryer is running and the whole house smells like mint...a first harvest of the year...very nice.

And so the carrots are weeded...

and the kids were well-behaved and adorable... you can always spot a Future Babysitter of America

Here's What Is Going On In The Background

...a message to our 2011 CSA Members this morning:

Port Hudon Organics "Early Bird Special"!

Greetings Members: We are happy to announce that, despite the heavy rains and quarter-sized hail of this past Tuesday, the garden is relatively unscathed. A few small holes in the greenhouse plastic and at least one tomato plant that took a direct hit are among the casualties - it could have been much worse. The larger problem is the packed soil and muddy conditions, which pretty much eliminates field work this weekend. This is where the greenhouse comes in. Unlike the fields, the covered greenhouse remains pretty dry, and the plants are in great shape, as are the weeds.

(left to right: carrots / eggplants / hot peppers / potatoes)

Of particular annoyance is the strong weed growth among the baby carrots. We have been doing hoe work around the edges, but there is just no getting around the tedious, but low energy work of sitting on your butt pulling weeds out from among the baby carrots, taking care to avoid pulling up what will become a bounty or orange goodness in May.

Now, the greenhouse is pretty much unbearably hot by 9:30 a.m., so we are offering an

early morning mingling of rustic farm work and fine French dining - our "Early Bird Special". For any who would like to come out this Saturday for a brief stint of delicate weeding in the 8:00-9:30 a.m. time frame, we will provide a light brinch of Mimosas, Croissants, and fruit - on the carport immediately after. You can sit in the shade and listen to the fountain and all of the birds while sipping your champagne beverage and nibbling on pastry and making small talk with your fellow members. The carrots will love you for it.

If this sounds good to you, please come out Saturday morning as early as you can make it. And remember to bring something either to sit on in the greenhouse, or to cover your seat in the car because there will be dust.

Here's hoping you can join us.

Thais and Will Perkins

Port Hudson Organics