Fall is Coming
After our recent heat wave it has been nice to have some days with cool breezes and cloudy skies. But I was still caught off guard by last Thursday’s rain, well more like a heavy mist but water from the…
Racing to Harvest
Lately it seems like everyday is a race. A race to pick as many tomatoes as possible before it gets too hot. My race day starts the night before, I load the truck with boxes, pint baskets, snacks, and water.…
Enjoying the Seasons
The tomatoes are still the star of the farm, requiring my full attention most every day. But across the field a successor is lurking in the weeds. The pumpkins are growing well, the vines are curling up the tall weed…
Being Present
What can I say, I’ve just be picking tomatoes since we last spoke. It’s true my days are measured by how many flats of this tomato variety or that tomato variety I have harvested. I shuffle through the tomato rows…
Me and Tomatoes
Have I mention how much I like tomatoes, well I guess love is a better word. As a farmer I truly believe you must enjoy what you grow both in the field and in the kitchen. I feel a connection…
Tomatoes and More Tomatoes
I’m at the farm almost every single day just harvesting, and harvesting and harvesting tomatoes. Big ones, small ones, red ones, yellow ones, pink ones, purple ones, and multi-colored ones. The plants are healthy and happy so they are just…
Whoa Those Are Big
Thursday as I began harvesting for Friday’s farmers market my focus was on cherry tomatoes. I had my day planned out; spend the morning harvesting cherry tomatoes, box up cherry tomatoes for the wholesaler, prep cherry tomatoes for the farmers…
Cherry Tomatoes Are Here
The workload is transitioning once again. I still have lots to weed, sorry winter squash, I’ll get to you soon, I hope. It is mid-July and the harvest season is now starting for Quarter Acre. The cherry tomatoes are ripening steadily.…
Time for Tomatoes
The cherry tomatoes have begun to ripen, just a few on this plant and that plant. I have to walk up and down many rows to fill a flat of pint baskets. The extra early heirloom tomato variety glacier has…
Trying to Stay Above Water
Everything is getting big at the farm including the weeds. It’s amazing what a few long hot days can do to the growth of a plant. The popcorn is up to my elbows, when only a month ago it was…
Tomato Pollination
The tomato field is starting to shape up. I have weeded six of the twelve tomato rows and so far I have been able to trellis four rows. The plants are pretty big covered in yellow flowers and many have…
My Style
Every farmer has a style, so every farm has a different look. Farmers don’t just layout their fields differently but they maintain their crops differently. I for one ignore weeding, for as long as I can. It is not just because…