2nd week of July 2008
Warm humid days are now upon us with plenty of rain showers to keep everything green and growing. Perhaps the abundant moisture is what is keeping my bed of summer lettuces growing well. Usually I give up on lettuce in the heat of summer because it tends to get bitter and bolt so quickly but this year I'm giving it more effort. I planted a "Summer Mix" that is supposed to be more resistant to bolting along with Little Gem and Sierra. My weekly customers are especially delighted to have a steady stream of salad showing up in their baskets and now there are even tomatoes and rainbow carrots to top their salads along with plenty of nasturtiums and other edible flowers.
My weekly demonstrations at Lehmans are a fun time to share what we're doing on the farm with both tourists and locals. I have a poster of farm photos and always take a plate of "Veggies in Season." The past few times I've taken a big bucket of peas to shell and end up giving lessons to kids on the art of pea shelling. I was talking with an Amish girl about age 12 and she was pretty amazed that some kids had never shelled peas before and commented, "My little sister is 2 and she even knows how to do that!" This past weekend was the big Artisan Festival at Lehmans with about a dozen local artists scattered throughout the store with displays of their creations and many of them demonstrating their work. It was fun to watch a woodturner, potter, gourd artist, mosaic maker, wool rug hooker and several painters at work. Part of our display included children's activities and making holly hock dolls. Many young folks got to make dolls at Lehmans that day and even a few grandmas were delighted to make one as they remembered their childhood. These simple play things are something my grandmother taught us how to make and now it's neat to see our children now enjoying them. They have even gotten quite creative in expanding beyond using only hollyhocks and now incorporate day lilies, daisies, poppies, bachelor buttons and more into their creations.
[Return to Garden Journal Page]