Oh Happy Day!

These cats are always happy to play in the watah.  They bite it, run through it, roll in it and then, rejuvenated, sprint around and around hooting it up.  Very entertaining, really.  Hosing the pigs down is my next task after I send off this Blog : )  There is a 70% chance of 1″ of rain this afternoon, the best odds we have had in awhile.  Little Ridge Farm, pigs, plants and farmer alike, are all hoping for a good douse.

Rainbow Days of Summer

While we do not love using plastic mulch, it has proven to be an asset on our farm.  It cuts down on weeding, which is nice, but the biggest benefit is its moisture retention.  We lay drip tape under the plastic, so when we do use our precious water to irrigate, it goes right to the plants and does not evaporate.   4 years ago we initially started using more plastic for weed control, but the coinciding drought those years have proven its worth ten fold.  This chard is a beautiful example !  It’s as tall as the trees!!  Well at this angle it looks that tall, but it really IS nearly 3′!!

Peasssss!

Some years peas are a trick to grow here, as I often have trouble with bugs eating the sprouting seeds, but THIS year they have been a fabulous treat!! I hope you are enjoying them!  It feel a little funny, picking a “spring” vegetable in the heat of summer, but they do take awhile to get going.  But hot on their heels are summer squash (coming soon!) and beans….IF I can keep the deer from eating them :/

This Week’s Bounty: lettuce, green cabbage, beets w/ greens, chard, broccoli, sugar snap peas, purplette onion, garlic scapes, parsley, cilantro, basil