Today we are mostly all about tomatoes.

Dare we say things are starting to get back to “normal”? Although what is “normal” is open to interpretation! We have finally reclaimed the majority of the garden territory from the weed invasion, the temps staying below 100^oF for at least the majority of the day helped as we were able to stay outside longer.

The old cabbage area weeded and ready for replanting fall crops. Leeks in the background, and the tomato wall. Those trellises are over 6 feet tall. Our own edible privacy hedge! And yes, the beefsteak tomatoes on the right, while not as tall, are so heavy they are bending the metal frames. More about them as they get closer to ripening.

The big news is-them thar are red tomatoes!

The cooler (relatively!) weather has finally started the larger tomatoes ripening. We were wondering if this would ever happen! The first variety to ripen is the pictured Costoluto Genovese. They will be in your baskets this week. Costoluto Genovese is an Italian heirloom variety, juicy, with a very distinct “tomatoey” flavor, somewhat on the tart side. They are definitely not like the super sweet Sun Sugar yellow cherries you have been getting. If you like tart tomatoes, try them in a salad or raw in a sandwich. We like them in a grilled cheese sandwich where the little bit of cooking it gets makes it a little mellower (your choice of cheese-we are peasants and like Velveeta). Yum.  Add some bacon-yummier! Or broil an open face sandwich (a firmer cheese would be better since this tomato is rather juicy) with some basil on top. Oh my, THIS is what we wait all year for! For those who juice, this is supposed to be an excellent juicer. We have never tried it, so if someone does try let us know how it does.

Next to ripen is the Black Krim tomato. (Not really black, more of a dark, reddish chocolate color.) This is a Russian heirloom from either Krim Island in the Black sea or from Crimean Peninsula, depending on what source you look at.

If there are enough you will have one or two of these. How to describe the taste of a black tomato? It is indescribable. It is absolutely without a doubt the best tasting tomato type….ever. Rich, intense, tomato flavor. Not too tart, not too sweet, …well, you just have to try it! They also are beyond fragile. They are ugly. The skin will split if you look at it sideways. They will be deformed. You may have to cut off half of it just to get some of the edible portion. The tops will probably stay green. Needless to say they don’t ship well! You will probably never see a true black tomato in the grocery store. But the taste-the one half you do get makes it all worthwhile. We will probably pick these about a day or two away from full ripe just so they will make it to you in somewhat one piece. Let them sit on your counter stem side down so the weight of the tomato doesn’t cause the skin to split (it may happen anyways-they are REALLY fragile!). Definitely use within a day or two. By the way-always store all tomatoes at room temperature, never in the refrigerator. Otherwise they become mealy.

Did you know that we eat tomato hornworms? (No, not literally. Blech!!)

A little out of focus-but you can tell how huge they are.

So, how can you tell if you have a tomato hornworm on your plant?

Bare stems-where did the leaves go?

See the green monster?

Chickens LOVE tomato hornworms!

Chickens eat hornworms, chickens lay eggs, we eat eggs. It’s that whole circle of life thing! And yes, we still have our four remaining hens. The Biddy Barn Bunker appears to be keeping them safe. Next up, finding a way to keep the chick area safe so we can get some replacements for next year. We cannot put chicks in with the big girls, they would attack them. So we will have to find a way to keep them safe until they are at least half grown and can stand up for themselves. Or run away fast enough, depending where they end up on the pecking order.

Moving on to other crops, we will start including some hot peppers in your baskets. Don’t worry, they will be well marked and in their own containers! First will be Ho Chi Minh Cayenne:

This is a seriously hot pepper! I used about 1/4 of one pepper finely chopped in a stir fry and my face tingled for the rest of the evening. But the flavor was excellent, and the heat was pleasant, not painful (if that makes sense).  The relatively milder jalapenos (green and purple) and fish peppers (green and white-very pretty) are still ripening.

Well, time to do another search for hornworms. They can defoliate an entire plant in just a day or two. We do a twice daily check and still find about two or three every time.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra

It is hard to believe that the summer session is already half way over… time is really flying by. We have been very busy here on the farm.  We have finally received some rain, not even close to what we really need, but every little bit helps. Our last significant precipitation was the hail storm in June, and we are still being affected by its damage.  All those other storms? Not a drop here!

After our chicken devastations we set to work building a third layer of protection for our birds. We now present the new Biddy Barn Bunker! 

This will (hopefully) keep our remaining hens safe from any predator shy of a bobcat or bear. Now anything that wants chicken for dinner will have to get through 1) the barn, 2) the coop, and 3) the bunker. We built it spacious enough to hold a planned larger flock next year, so our four remaining birds look kind of lost in there, but they are really enjoying their new roosts and being able to get out of the small brooder box we have had them crammed in at night for the past two weeks.

She’s touching me!

We have set a humane trap in the hopes of catching that *#&%^ pesky weasel, but he is much too wily for us. However, we did catch a very confused baby possum which we relocated into the woods. He could not harm a full grown hen, and the current fencing is adequate to keep a full grown possum out.  We will keep trying.

We are still playing the tomato ripening waiting game. The cherry tomatoes are starting to pump them out, but the larger beefsteaks are just sitting there. Green. I guess you really can’t rush Mother Nature. They will ripen when they feel like it. This is from http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/tomatoesnotripening.html:

The optimum temperature range for ripening mature green tomatoes is 68–77 deg. F. The further temperatures stray from the optimum, the slower the ripening process will be. And, when temperatures are outside the optimum range for extended periods, conditions may become so stressful that the ripening process virtually halts.

At the same time, tomatoes do not produce lycopene and carotene, the pigments responsible for ripe tomato color, when temperatures are above 85 deg. F. So, extended periods of extreme heat cause tomatoes to stop ripening.

Some commercial growers pick green tomatoes and force ripening with ethylene gas. (You can also do this at home by putting green tomatoes in a bag with a ripe banana or apple).  But then the flavor is affected. So we wait.

Lots of blossoms…..more cherry tomatoes coming!

Looking forward, the majority of our fall crops have sprouted in their seedling trays and are now getting their first taste of the outside world. Wait, didn’t we finally just get the last of the tomato and peppers off the front porch? Now we can’t walk there again! Such is life in the fast paced world of minifarming.

Well, the small amount of rain we did get has somewhat dampened the soil so the weeds come out a little easier, otherwise it’s like trying to pull them out of cement. Since we mostly tried to stay inside once the thermometer hit 100^oF (which happened way too often!) the weeds definitely need to be reminded of their place (not in the garden walkways!)

Weeds in the walkway between the “tomato wall” and leeks (we didn’t get a chance to mulch here)

After weeding….replacement beans

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra

So this is the time of year when we start asking when cooler weather will get here, or at least some rain.   As you see in the photo below…it is way too hot to be out messing with the plants.  The plants don’t want to be messed with any more than we do in this kind of heat. We actually had to update this photo 3 times as the temperature climbed. (Update #4: temp is now 111.2! We’re not taking another picture, it’s too depressing.)

Life on the farm has finally returned to normal after the storms. Here’s to hoping we don’t have to go through that again! Although the weather alert is already going off about strong storms later today……Sigh!

The heat and lack of rain is a concern here. As we mentioned earlier, the first bean planting has been decimated by the double whammy of storm damage and then heat and lack of rain. This was once a lush bean patch:

Fortunately we have replacements coming along.

The kale and chard have also suffered:

Dying kale

Wilting Swiss chard

The chard will recover if we get some rain (our irrigation obviously isn’t enough) but we have already started replacements for the kale. We will see them again in the fall. The chickens are still protesting the heat by reducing their laying. Like that’s going to help!

So, how do we prepare our plants for the hot weather without draining our well dry? In one word: mulch. After we plant we put a layer of mulch at least 3-4 inches thick all around. This helps with weed suppression so the plants don’t have to compete for water, slows down evaporation, and helps keep the roots cooler. Throughout the season the mulch will gradually break down and by next year will help increase the organic content of our soils.



Mulched peppers



In tomato news, they are growing like gangbusters:



This trellis is 6 feet tall



Now we just wait for the tomatoes to ripen:

The heat has stopped the growth of the onions and caused the tops to die off (this is normal). We have pulled them all and they are curing in the barn, so from now on all onions in the shares will be in various stages of drying. Our two main crop onions are Italian heirlooms, Borrettana Cipollini (white) and Red Marble (red). These onions do not get big and are shaped like a button. They are on the sweeter side, so they will not store as well as some of the stronger varieties, but they are better for fresh eating.

Well, at least this hot weather that is forcing us to stay inside during the afternoons is allowing us to get a head start on some of the Fall succession plantings without feeling like we are taking time away from that dreaded task of weeding. This is called “looking on the bright side”. How does that work for you?

Stay cool in your own personal patch of shade,

Jeff and Sandra

This blog post is rather after the fact of the storm damage, but we are just now able to post again, so better late than never.

This is what hail does to vegetables:

Shredded Swiss chard leaf

Mangled squash leaves





Damage on cucumber stems



All the white spots are where hail hit this tomato plant

All the tomatoes that were damaged by the hail had to be discarded as the broken skins were an invitation for rot.

And finally, how nice of this branch to fall right into our wood pile!



At least we didn't have to move it far after we cut it up.