Field Observations
Everything is getting tall. The popcorn is about hip high and so are some of their companion weeds … I did get about half the popcorn field weeded. The bush bean plants which will later be dried beans are blooming…
Tag tomatoes
The Tomatoes Are Coming
This week I picked my first two baskets of cherry tomatoes! Enough plants had just one or two ripe fruits, allowing me to fill my baskets. The plants still have some more growing to do and the rest of the fruit…
Oh Weeds
Right now it’s weeding time. The field is almost completely planted so the focus is on maintaining and nurturing everything to grow big and beautiful. This is the part of the season where you have to remind yourself that as…
Tomatoes are in the Ground
The tomatoes are planted, all one thousand seven hundred feet of them. In the greenhouse, the tomato seedlings a quite big, filling up their trays and reaching for the sky. But once you’re out in the field the seedlings seem…
Greenhouse Friends
Work in the greenhouse continues, potting up thousands of seedlings takes a lot of time. During my long stints in that plastic shelter I’ve been noticing all the wonderful critters hanging out with me. I spotted hoverflies taking a rest…
Time for Frost
Early last week I left a warm and balmy Sonoma for a week in Austin, Texas to attend the wedding of one of my best friends. When I returned to Sonoma I felt like I had been gone from the…
Harvest is Slowing Down
There is not much left in the field. The winter squash has all been harvested. It was a small yield this year because the ground squirrels found out how sweet and tasty butternut squash and all his friends are. They…
Still Summer
The days are hot but a change in the season is happening. The sun comes up later, and sets earlier. There is a coolness in the morning with that unmistakable scent of fall. The tomato production is going strong currently at…
Bountiful Bounty
The end of the summer and early fall is a time of great bounty. Summer crops are at their peak and fall crops are just starting to be harvested. Right now I can fill a ten pound box of heirloom…
Cheerful Cherries
I have been spending lots of time with cherry tomatoes. Their red and orange sparkle welcomes me to the farm everyday. I am harvesting the productive plants at least three times a week. This equals many hours in the tomato rows,…