Not to tease you but the sweet corn is looking great! (But it is not quite ready ;) We wait until the gorgeous yellow silks turn brown, indicating that the kernels inside are fully developed. I am growing one tried and true variety (Honey Select) but am trialing a few new varieties. For Organic Certification, I must try and use 100% certified organic seed. Not all varieties are available as organic seed yet, so those I can still use the non-organic, however they encourage you to trial new varieties to transition to available organic seed. Every year I do trial a few new varieties but to be honest, many of the varieties I grow are ones I was introduced to when I first started farming in 2000. They are reliable and tasty and hard to move away from — although more and more are now being grown organically so that helps me out.

Back to the corn, I got sidetracked …. it is beautiful and close to the barn, so if you have a moment, stop by and admire it. So many hues of yellow, greens and pinks; it smells wonderful; and the bees love it too! And HOPEFULLY the resident neighborhood raccoon does not help himself before we get to it!

We are just starting to harvest tomatoes–yeah! The field tomato plants are looking stressed due to the intense humidity we had, but they are pumping out the fruit. The hoop house tomatoes look stellar green, but are slow to fruit. I think I added a bit too much Nitrogen, so they are beefing up on greens before they give up their fruit. Oye. Patience, Keena, they will come!! In the meantime, the ones we harvest are oh so swwweet! We had to tie the trellises to the frame of the hoop house because the weight of the plants was pulling over the plants. It was last Friday and even though I started early, but the time we finished I nearly passed out in the heat! ooof! It’s a good thing tomatoes like it hot!!

Ahh the last of the seedlings are being planted out and we have our fingers crossed!!! For a dash of rain and extended warm weather to get these beauties to grow. I actually planted them about the same time as I did last year, but it feels super late from some reason, so it is making me nervous. We have been caring for them with hand watering and lots of love, so hopefully they will rise to the occasion.

This Week’s Bounty: lettuce mix, cabbage, onion, tomato, beans, broccoli, cukes, zukes, summer squash, chard, beets …