June is a beautiful month on the farm. The garden is greening up and the lilacs are in bloom. The weather is finally cooperating and things are beginning to grow quickly now. The peas have grown over a foot in the past week and we’re hoping to have flowers very soon. The tomatoes in the tunnel have some tiny fruit on them! The bird houses we put up early this spring are all occupied. We have tree swallows and bluebirds and maybe some wrens.
Chickens enjoying the new pasture
Over the past week we’ve finished our field plantings of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant.
Salad radishes all washed up
We had a new member of the team join us this week, Leah Criswell, Tyler’s younger sister. Her arrival has meant a great deal to us. We’ve been able to get more done in less time and even had a few afternoons off! She’s enjoying her time on the farm so far and has had plenty of time to explore this beautiful place we all live in.
Leah harvesting chive blossoms
For most of the week we were keeping up on the weeds. We were hoeing the aisles and cultivating the beds with our hand tools. Weeding is the theme of the month of June and if we do well over the next few weeks we’ll be in really good shape for July when the harvest kicks up.
Tyler using the flame-weeder on the flower zone
The biggest project was building our new compost pile using the chicken coop bedding and clover cover crop. Tyler is getting good at using his new tool, the scythe. It’s amazingly light weight and very sharp. He used it to cut down the clover, around the base of the apple trees, and tame the asparagus patch. It’s our version of a weed whacker.
French breakfast radish harvest
Here’s an overview of what you can expect in the CSA share this week:
*Curly Kale
*Lacinato Kale
Green Onion
Green Garlic- Use the stem and the leaves. Mild garlic flavor. The stem can be put in a minute before the leaves to cook.
French breakfast radish
Salad radish
Chive blossoms- Use as a beautiful garnish on salads, soups or sides
Lettuce mix
Spinach
*Kale tip: Strip the leaves from the stems, crumple the leaves in your fists until it turns soft, roll and chop into strips and add to a stir-fry.
Strawberries, potatoes, and broccoli at sunset