1st week of August 2008
We've had our first real dry spell where I actually needed to get out the hose to keep a few things watered. The fall carrot, beet and lettuce beds got a soaking several evenings to make sure things germinate well. The mulch is hopefully keep other crops moist enough to thrive. This is also when some of the neat crops are starting to ripen and I'm having fun taking them to my weekly demonstrations at Lehmans store, putting unusual things into veggie baskets and sending extras to the farmer's market with a friend. Mexican sour gherkins which look like miniature watermelons and are nicknamed "Mouse melons" are actually in the cucumber family. They are a tasty little pickle that also work well in doll houses. It looks like we'll have a bumper crop of them this year. Also coming are Lemon cucumbers, tomatillos, yard-long beans, Magic Beans (yellow with purple stripes), Rattlesnake beans (green with purple stripes) and potatoes of all colors and shapes including some fingerlings that went a little wild. This is when folks start asking me if this stuff is genetically modified but I just respond that they are all how God created them, you just won't find these varieties in the grocery store.
The dry stretch did give us a good window to get the second cutting of hay done without the threat of rain. As our Hereford beef cattle herd grows, we're needing to stash away more hay for the winter. From our 16 acre field, Olin was able to make 65 large square bales of hay (with some help from a neighbor with big equipment) which is close to 30 tons of hay. He is very glad to have that tucked away in the barn and to have a break from the tractor seat. Several cows look like they'll be calving soon so we'll need to be ready with some more flower and herb names for the new calves. Our most recent addition was baby Blossom born to Tulip. When one of our children noticed the new calf, we all dropped what we were doing and hiked through the pasture to see it. New farm babies are always a
wonderful sight.
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