Where’s our rain? Farm Photos, Farm Tots, squash ripening, berries changeover, apple-picking starts, tomato tying in the Florida mode, the garlic cure, flagging the corn maze, searching for the maze muse

I mentioned our plans for the Scottish Highland games in my last entry. We did go to the games on Sunday, July 30. I picked up a few more CD's (Wicked Tinker, Molly's Revenge, Simon Fraser University Pipe Band). The games were held at the King County Fairgrounds in Enumclaw. While we were there we were drenched by rain several times. I knew better than to hope that there was rain at the farm. Sure enough, when we got back and I checked the weather station report, I found that the farm received 0.01 inch of rain, just enough to settle the dust. We did receive another 0.01 inch early the next morning.

On Friday July 27 Lincoln Potter came to the farm and took some photos. Lincoln, a professional photographer, has long been a supporter of agriculture in the Sammamish Valley. Lincoln shared some of his photos with us:

Our lettuce displayed in the farmstand. Chandra (right) and Michelle are waiting on visitors. Photo by Lincoln Potter

Digging for worms and worm eggs has been a featured activity several times at our Farm Tots program. Nancy (far right), one of our education staff, is particularly fond of the little wigglers. Photo by Lincoln Potter

One of the highlights of the Farm Tots program is the hayride. Here I am pulling away with another wagon full of kids and parents. I’m driving the 1952 Ford 8N tractor. Photo by Lincoln Potter

The Farm Tots program continues to fill a demand larger than we expected. There are quite a few parents looking for activities to share with their children where they can both also socialize with other parents and children. Now that we have added Wednesday sessions we aren’t getting so overcrowded, making the experience better and more relaxing for everyone. Some of the kids have turned into real farm fans – insisting on return visits week after week. The combination of the craft, the fruit or veggie picking, and the hayride seems to be the right mix for most tots. Many times I’ve heard mothers voice their surprise at how well their little one took to picking.

Summer is progressing. More crops are ending, while others are starting up. Some of the winter squash varieties look to be quite far along.

Winter Squash “Sunshine” was a big favorite last year. I took this photo on Friday, July 28. The Red Kuri’s and Carnivals also have good color already.

The thornless blackberries are now well into production. Their season usually lasts to late August. We also still have Marionberries ripening. The raspberries are basically done now. There are still berries ripening, but only the most fervent raspberry fans will to be willing to spend the time in the treasure hunt. The blueberries are also basically all gone.

We started apple picking on Saturday August 5. Our early variety is Williams Pride. This excellent dessert quality apple was selected at Perdue for resistance to apple scab and other apple diseases. Williams Pride has become a favorite of mine and also many of our farmstand staff. This year the size of the Williams Pride apples is on the small size since the trees are bearing so heavily. We could have gotten a larger average size by thinning the apples. However, since the only organic apple thinning technique I know is to remove tiny apples by hand we tend to do it only when there is an obvious need and no other more urgent tasks at the moment. The other apple varieties are not so heavily laden, so I didn’t notice the Williams Pride needed help.

The melons and watermelons keep getting bigger and more mature. I’m waiting in great anticipation for the first tastes. We have some new varieties in addition to the best varieties from last year.

We have accomplished a lot in the field since my last entry. We weeded and pulled the clear plastic in the sweet potato and hot pepper area. We have started picking some the hot peppers – the Jalapeños, the Hungarian Yellow Wax, and the cayenne peppers (picked green). We have also started to pick the Purple Marconi peppers – one of Chef Brian’s favorite peppers to sauté.

We tied up the field tomatoes using the Florida weave method. The goal is to lift the vines and tomatoes off the ground. This is to avoid soil contact with the plants, which leads to disease – particularly late blight. We also aim to make harvest easier and to allow better air circulation through the foliage. We pounded a metal fence post between every second tomato plant. We then took two strands of twine and weaved them around the plants, lifting up the branches. More news later on how it worked. We have been picking both red and gold cherry tomatoes and also a few Purple Cherokee tomatoes. There are lots of green tomatoes out there.

The pole beans are planted near the tomatoes. Some varieties are flowering now so bean-picking time is coming.

On Thursday Aug 3 we dug up the garlic. The garlic is curing in the shaded greenhouse. When it is dry enough we will cut off the stems and roots and peel off one layer of the paper skin, leaving clean garlic heads ready to store and sell. Some of the varieties did very well this year. I haven’t yet dug through the piles of garlic to make an assessment. Our shallots are a different variety than last and are quite a bit smaller this year. We’ll see if the taste makes up for the size.

We have finished marking out the grid in the corn maze. In an earlier entry I mentioned replanting part of the corn maze field. We did manage to rescue somewhat better than half of the replanted area through a heroic job of transplanting plants from one area to another. The corn maze this year will be 5¼ acres. Although a bit smaller than the 6 acres of the entire field, it is still larger than last year’s 4¾-acre maze, the best ever.

Now that I have the actual dimensions of the maze I can figure out the design. I really should already be out there cutting the paths, so the pressure is on. I need to finish cutting the maze by the end of the August so we can schedule in the aerial photography before the maze opening on Wednesday September 6. The Corn Maze Opening Celebration will be Saturday, September 9.

Today the crew is back up at the Ranch weeding out the School Tour pumpkin patch. I purchased a new canopy for the John Deere tractor to shade the tractor operator from sun and rain. Rob installed it today. I also ordered an umbrella for the Ford 8N tractor, but it hasn’t yet arrived. Today I took care of the critters, moved water sprinklers and turned drip fields on or off, met with our insurance agent, conferred with Rob about progress and plans for the week, checked and answered phone messages and emails, and worked on getting inspired about corn maze design.

This week: More tomatoes & peppers, maybe some eggplant!

What’s playing today in the Jeep CD player?  Wicked Tinker – Banger for Breakfast