This is a busy time of the year on the farm and in the gardens. Mowing takes up much of the weekend for Steve. Our neighbor, Johnny, has taken one cutting of hay and we keep 10 large round bales for mulching the gardens, berry patches, trees and shrubs.

We are currently harvesting many vegetables and herbs, and we are eating the first apples from our young orchard. We had three almonds forming, but a squirrel or deer must have gotten to them first. We grow food primarily to eat fresh and to can, freeze and dry for the winter. We also share with our kids and their families.

What’s growing this year?

Our electric fence apparently repelled the raccoons and ground hogs, and we have gotten all but a couple of ears of our Kandy Kwik and Bicolor Super Sweet corn. Of course, the Red-winged Black Birds have stolen a little corn from the tips of the ears, but we love them anyway because they remind Steve and me of our childhoods in Nebraska and Iowa.

The Black Beauty eggplant has been the best we have ever grown, with very little insect damage this year. We have had many storms this year and I have had to re-erect the beanpoles several times, but the Garden of Eden heirloom beans are still coming on in handfuls. We started a new garden area this spring, using load after load of composted manure and topsoil, and the pumpkin and acorn squash patch planted there is a jungle of deep green. Wading in, we can see many green Small Baby Pam pumpkins and the Table Queen squash are almost as big as the pumpkins.

Farmer’s Market

The past two summers we have had enough to sell a little of our excess from the veggie and herb gardens to friends and at a local Farmer’s Market. Many folks are glad to have “authentically” grown herbs, specialty peppers, freshly picked eggplant, heirloom tomatoes and other more unusual fare, so we believe we meet a formerly unmet need in our community.

Broccoli In Abundance

It is the first week in August and I picked a large basket full of broccoli this morning, which is unusual for the hot summers in Kentucky. This year we grew three varieties: Packman, Bonanza Hybrid, and Green Comet, which spread out the first picking a little. I have had to use Dipel (Bacillis Thuringiensis) several times to control the cabbage worms, and we have had a little trouble with the Harlequin Beetle, but we are having a banner year with side shoots. I hope we will be able to keep the plants going throughout the winter