Pray For Rain

Our porch was overflowing with good things tonight!  A watermelon for everyone!!!

The ground is still pretty dry at the farm.  The little bit of rain that we had over the weekend just did not to the trick.  The farm really needs the rain!  Andy is hoping that the weather forecasters are right when they say that we should be getting some of the rain from the hurricane in the next day or two.  He says that he can feel it in the air...a change is coming.  

Andy and Lizzie will be having church at their house this weekend.  In most Amish communities each family in the community takes turn hosting church in their homes or their barns instead of having it in a 'church house'.    That means that they have extra corners to clean so they can have the place looking decent.  (I can tell you that it was a polished and shined.  Not a thing our of place and sparkling clean.

Since we are all still learning about the growing methods...

Earlier Andy and Lizzie started using a P.H. meter and a refractometer to check their plants to be able to get a better idea of what minerals are still needed.  The refractormeter shows how high the brix (sugar content) in the plants is.  The higher the brix, the healthier the plant is.  With a high brix you have less disease and insect pressure.  Also the produce keeps better and has a better flavor.  Although the refractormeter tells  how high the brix level is, it really does not tell much about what minerals are still lacking.  The P.H. meter tells more about what minerals are needed.  More about that at a later date.