Whats happening at the Farms

(Spaghetti Squash)

(Many headed sunflower)

(Another many headed sunflower)

(Growing green pepper)

(Yellow Squash)

Since the last blog much has happened at the farms. We have harvested red lettuce, mesclun lettuce, collards, cucumbers, zucchini, white squash, arugula, basil, chamomile, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, peppers, tatsoi, kale, beets, mint, parsley, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, eggplant, mustard greens, garlic, swiss chard, rhubarb chard, hot peppers and radishes. We have planted hummingbird mix, agrostmma, quinoa, chicory and sweet pepper. We pulled up bolted collards, arugula and kale and began drying and saving the seeds. Tara has been drying seeds from tomatoes and peppers for later use. We have had to stake and re-stake tomatoes as they grow and get larger and heavier. Some of the leaves on our squash plants became dry or diseased so we had to cut them off. Our 6 foot sunflowers began to lean as they grew larger so we had to tie them against the fence. I went to the Garden at St. Vincent's Hospital to pick up a large amount of lavender from Chris since we decided to either use them to make soap or to sell them at the Farmer's Market. In preparation for the Farmer's Market we have been weighing our produce to keep track of how much we yield at each harvest. For example, on 7/30 we harvested:
3 lbs. 9 oz. of collards
8 oz. of rhubarb chard
4 lbs. 6 oz. of tomatoes
4 lbs. 1 oz. of cherry tomatoes
6 lbs. 12 oz. of cucumbers
3 lbs. 4 oz. of eggplant
1 lb. 4 oz. of spaghetti squash
5 lbs. 11 oz. of kale
15 oz. of white squash
2 oz. of hot peppers
1 lb. of yellow squash
One day, we harvested more than 20 lbs. of cucumbers from one location and on another day over 20 lbs. of tomatoes from another location. The numbers are amazing if you take into consideration that we are in two backyards of the largest metropolitan city in the world and not in a rural, country environment. Finally, in terms of culinary activities, Natalie made a grated beet salad and sauteed zucchini with spices while Roberto made a salad with tomatoes, basil, mozarella cheese and balsamic vinegar. They were very good.