Week 6 and the Big Countdown

It's Week 6 of the CSA, and the garden is trying so hard to wrap things up for the season...we've been harvesting and pulling up plants and Will has been tilling and plowing; this has gone on for several weeks now, since our Great Beanapalooza two weeks ago. We try to shoot for a 9-week season, but sometimes the garden says 'excuse me, but I think it will be 8'. As always, we are winding down to the last couple of weeks and there will be melons and eggplants and cucumbers and hot peppers- the great hangers-on of a late summer garden. The squash will linger a while (particularly since we planted more of them along the way!) and there are field peas that have yet to bloom - and it's looking like that event will be a post-CSA one. The loofas are still in a flat - the very very last flat to be dealt with - and we'll build a fence behind the barn and set them out. The herb beds look like they will hold out and stay beautiful long past the season...one the one hand, I love to work out there and enjoy the rows and rows of herbs - but still, so much never gets harvested and thats a shame in a way. That's a problem for another day.

In the meantime, we work all week and work and visit with our CSA members Friday nights and Saturday mornings and everyone seems quite happy with their experience (and their weekly haul). Some have been bringing eggs to sell or to just give us (lucky us)

...but everyone is showing the wear and tear of the season - all are tired. More later....the great weekly cleanup is underway while we try to put things to rights - the tablecloths are in the dryer, the carport has been hosed off...and of course Will is out there weed-eating because he just can't help himself...after lunch it is most definitely nap time.

...for some.

Turtles?...What Turtles?

Every time I cook down the dinged tomatoes to make a sauce, I always throw the scraps in the pond - long ago we saw a turtle eat one (or maybe two) and so it's for the turtles - right? wrong!

I threw the bowl of icky tomato parts into the pond and then I thought - I'll just wait and see...so I stood there...and there were clouds of disturbed mud from the bottom and I thought 'man, that must be Big Boy' (the turtle caught several times and always escapes and once bit Will o the leg and now Will has a scar).

Well - I'll be....GALOOSH!...It's a giant catfish! He ate a whole tomato - one gulp!...So I ran back in to get the camera...I sat and watched this phenomenon for a few minutes - no way was I quick enough to actually get a picture of a fish eating a tomato. But there you have it. Case closed.

...a little Father's Day Chillin'

CSA Friends...

..and a few minutes of fun

Coons in the Corn...

HA! They outsmarted us this time!

No raccoons in thefirst planting of corn - not a one. Well, there was one in the carport...you'd walk out at night and there he'd be, up on a table eating the catfood...and he's just look at you like..."What!?"
But none in the corn. And here comes the second crop...pollinated and lookin good...and Will walks out and...aw, man...And we didn't have any sardines so he set the trap with shrimp - did get a possum but no raccoon. Sardines at the moment and we shall see...we're thinking everyone is going to have to have corn just a bit early...just a few days early - I don't know. In the meantime, here is our farm update from Wednesday....

CSA Farm Update and 5^th Week Selection Sheets

It is with palpable relief that we bid adieu to cornucopia and bean-o-geddon last week.  We hope everyone got their beans shelled and consumed or frozen before they spoiled or grew into new plants.  One large bowl of shelled horticulture beans, which were beginning to sprout as we shelled them, had uniformly sprouted overnight in the cooler before we processed them the following day.  I joking told Thais that we should plant them and received a stern look.  Sprouted beans are supposed to be good for you and make no difference in the final product, so in the freezer they went.

In other news, our near-perfect garden run was dealt a setback when I discovered yesterday that we had been hit by the masked bandits.  The little guys faked me out this year when they left the first batch of corn completely alone and, when I dropped my guard, snuck into the new corn to do significant damage.  Usually they don’t hit the corn until the ears are full, but I am sure that they get together and strategize on how to keep me off balance.  I’m thinking we should organize a vigilante group, perhaps with shifts of CSA members in the corn all night with torches and pitchforks.  Sign-up sheets will be in the carport.

Farm Update:

In contrast to Baton Rouge, we have had perfect rains; a half-inch last Thursday and (just when it looked like we would be watering again) another 0.6 inches Tuesday.  The remaining plants in the field are in full gear.  You will find an abundance of the following items.

Tomatoes – Slicer and Roma varieties

Bell Peppers

Eggplants

Yellow Squash

Zucchini

Cucumbers

Peppers – Bell, Jalapenos, Chilies, and Shishito

Green Onions – adding green onions to the list this week– these are real nice

Radish – No promises on the level of heat.  These got lost in the bean shuffle, but there are a lot out there to be picked.

In somewhat less abundance, we have Red and Yellow Beets

We are also adding Potatoes to the list this week (thanks to all the help from the pickers).  If selected, you will receive red potatoes this week and white potatoes next week, etc.

We know everyone wants garlic, but it needs another week to dry sufficiently to divide easily into “toes”.  It also needs to mellow out a little.  It will be on the list next week and through the end of the season.

Herbs – You will see a complete compliment of herbs this week.  Only dill and cilantro are in somewhat short supply.

Flowers – They are in such abundance that you can substitute flowers for one selection of either vegetables or herbs (instead of two) – just adjust your selection sheet accordingly.  But bring jars.  We do not have enough jars to accommodate all of the flower requests.  This round we have zinnias, and sunflowers from the back of the field.

Again, thanks to everyone for your participation and help.  Remember to bring back your baskets and jars and to come early (between 6:30 AM and 8:30 AM) on Saturday or late (between 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM) on Friday to help out and receive your basket.

Will and Thais Perkins

Port Hudson Organics CSA

oh yes...

Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pecans

So many many vegetables

I'm not sure we have ever had this productive a garden - or this much luck with rain...not that we've had enough, but that we didn't have too much. I think Baton Rouge had 8 inches or more last week - we had 1/2 an inch. Lucky lucky us. Because of the threat, we had an 'all hands on deck' call last week and every single evening members showed up to help pull in the first planting of corn, all of the shell beans (red and horticulture) and the potatoes. oh yes...and the weekend before, all of the garlic! Any of these would have been ruined by a big rain and all of them came ready at the same time. Needless to say, our members stepped up to the plate and helped all of this happen - but it made for The. Longest. Week. Of. Farming. Ever. Not any time to add to this blog in the meantime, but I've manages to collect some pictures along the way: people and garden. So I'll just throw them out there for you to peruse!

...and now we still have 19 weighed bags of horticulture beans in the cooler...but our members (once again) are 'doing what needs to be done' - I see a flurry of emails about Baton Rouge Bean Delivery being formulated. Amazing. Go CSA Members!
And now, the beans and first corn and garlic and potatoes are all out of the field....it looks a bit blank, but actually it's nice for it not to be a jungle! You can walk between the flower rows and get to the tomatoes to pick them (and the cucumbers and the peppers and the eggplants). And the garden still looks healthy and productive.

and of course now we have QUITE the compost pile!

We spent Sunday making pickles and shelling beans and of course cooking...what a great season it's been so far.

My But That Is Tasty!

...a young man and his garlic flower!

Rain: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

we really needed rain in the worst way - and had flooded the field with the pond, trying to give the corn and beans enough water as they ripen, and trying to keep everything else from withering in the heat...but the garden was in good shape, and had reached and was surpassing that 'Disney' moment, when everything is orderly and all is beautiful...and right after the pumping of the pond was finished, of course we get a whopper of a storm yesterday...

Like everything else about gardening, there are many ways to look at this; there are trees and beds and many things (including the pond) that needed this rain. But a big rain can be brutal.

The sun will pull all of this skyward - to a point. Let's be honest - everything's a mess! But, you can also say that now we are released from the pressure of maintaining the absolutely perfect-looking garden! And Will thinks maybe he can stand the corn back up - not the crop that was full of ears and almost ready...and we'll be able to harvest that in a few days; but maybe the second planting...we shall see. I cut the glads and just refuse to look at the herbs that are flat...they'll straighten out to a degree. messy messy messy. But this morning was surprisingly cool and nice, and I cut all of the herbs we'll need for the Friday evening crew. Don't know how we're going to get out there and pick this evening. Lots of things are already harvested for the week. But the peppers (all kinds) and eggplant and even the yellow beans...we'll figure it out.