Happy Friday night!! Unfortunately, I was extra busy again this week, and only have enough time for about a paragraph (actually one turned into three...woops). The Orleans County Fair is in session this week, and I usually spend quite a bit of time there volunteering, and enjoying all the different delights to be had. Our Farm Market is in Brockport, which is in Monroe county, but I grew up on our farm in Albion, so I have many wonderful childhood memories of the Fair. And last night I attended an Apple Growers Conference where I learned an immense amount of information about the apple industry. On our farm, I focus most of my efforts on vegetables and small fruits, but I do enjoy working with apples, and it is a huge part of our farm. I am always learning, and I am sure I will be for the rest of my life.
That bodacious dill!!
Here are some brief field updates to let you know what's going on around our farm. We picked our first planting of pickles for the last time this week. Towards the end of a planting, after a couple weeks of picking, the plants are very stressed. This results in the fruit being more crooked than normal. The second planting is coming up right behind the first, and hopefully we will be picking more pickles for next weekend! We are also right in the middle of our Strawberry renovation. I can’t wait to post before and after pictures of that next week, when I will talk a little more in depth about the process. We are still picking our first block/planting of sweet corn. Thanks to planting two different varieties as well as using the row cover, this one planting will stretch across the span of about two weeks. Normally a sweet corn planting only lasts about one week. Now, with a little extra effort, we picked some earlier than normal, and with nearly the same planting costs, are picking over a much longer period of time. My dad picked the first bushel or two of Italian eggplant today! We have some interesting varieties this year if you are an eggplant fan. A long Asian variety, normal Italian eggplant, and a round Sicilian variety. I have discovered that I am a big eggplant fan myself. I found some early long eggplants that are an Asian variety, sliced them thin and sauteed them with sliced zucchini, onions and a thick flavorful tomato sauce and they added a great texture to the dish. The beefsteak tomatoes coming out of the high tunnel have been tasting awesome. All of our 7-8 varieties of peppers will be arriving shortly as well. We are really coming into the heart of the summer harvest and I couldn’t be more excited!
Mmmm... Slushies .