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07/31/2007: "Farm Stories and More"

There's so much to report on right now that this might be a two part post. But I have to start somewhere, so here goes!

This is a picture of one of Nate's breeding projects. He's in full swing doing crosses between different varieties of one species, or different plants of the same variety. He goes out in the later afternoon or evening, after the plant has done all of its growing. He tapes the flowers of interest shut, then does the rest of his chores. In the morning he goes to the garden and untapes the two flowers involved in a particular cross. He hand pollinates one with the other, then puts a piece of flagging with the cross written on it above the flower. He has a total of 11 different projects going right now. Four of them are a "self" cross to increase the seed of a rare or failing line. The other crosses are for either making new and yummy varieties, or to take old and yummy varieties and make them better. It's a lot of work for Nate, but he loves the mental challenge and planning combined with the practical hands on experience. Plus we get to taste test the results!


Here's me in one of the breeding projects, just for scale.


Nate planted out the beets a little while back. It's time to thin them now. Beet pancakes are one of my favorite foods, and as a result, we ran out of beets last year. Being extremely easy to grow, Nate doubled the amount he planted this year over last year. So I shouldn't have to ration my beet pancakes.


The corn project is going very well. Nate grew out the seed he saved from last year's crop. You might remember that last year's corn was grown completely dryland--no water. We had a decent yield and recently polished off the last of the polenta we made from the crop. This year Nate is actually irrigating the crop! It's much taller, greener, and most plants have two lush ears instead of one scrawny ear. However, the work involved with irrigating is quite a bit more than Nate bargained for. If things go well this season, Nate is considering trying to find a middle ground on the water issue. Perhaps a few waterings would be sufficient?


Here's one of those big healthy ears:


Nate's also really looking forward to melon season. Here in about two weeks, Nate will be living solely on melons and cream. I'll try to make a nice dinner and he'll hold up his melon in one hand and cup in the other and tell me there's no need. Hmph.

But he says that starting the melons inside, transfering to the cold frame, and then under the cloche has significantly shortened the time to ripeness.

We have green peppers, but they should be red soon!


And finally, here's my farm contribution. I have a few other beauties around the property, but that darn 50 hr work week has really cramped my gardening style.


Nate and I are enjoying a dessert of farm apples and honey. Everyday it seems like a new food stuff presents itself and we move a babystep closer to food independence.

Within the next few days we'll share with you the tale of Rainbow's de-horning, but we need a little space from that event, and it deserves a post all its own.... So stay tuned!