Lots of Important Information

The bad news is that there are no more cantaloupes.  The good news is there is another patch coming on!  They should be ready to harvest in a few weeks!  Oh that sweet, sweet goodness!  Tomatoes are looking good even thought there are some blight issues.  Andy says that this is really not unusual with all the wet weather we had early in the season.  the wonderful colorful larger tomatoes are heirloom tomatoes that have been handed down for their forefathers.  That to me makes them taste even better!  The flavor of them is just hard to beat (they are Andy's favorites) but they are softer and more easily damaged and they tend to go bad quicker.  The long skinny tomatoes are Italian heirlooms.  They are more meaty and more like a Roma tomato.  The round orange-red tomatoes are Mt Fresh tomatoes.   These are the most dependable tomatoes that are grown on the farm.  And there are a few green tomatoes.

 

If you are looking for canning tomatoes...they have some available for 50 cents a pound.  They are smaller than the ones that we get in our boxes.  Some have cracks or blemishes on them but they are still good.  If you would like some, just send an email to the new email address to order them for next week.  Please do this before Thursday.

cedarmorefarm@gmail.com

 

Andy and Lizzie have been able to grow some watermelons.  they are hard to go organically and the fact that they take up so much room in an already full van (picture coming next week) and the fact that the cucumber beetles like the taste of watermelon, there are a limited number available for CSA members.  They re basketball size and are $4.00 each.  I can tell you that you really don't want to miss out on this.  They are delicious.  I was able to pick one up on Saturday.  Delicious!

 

 

onions, red pepper, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes of every color, potatoes

(I have already made kosher dill pickles out of my cucumbers...they are to die for!)

 

Growing Methods Continued

'During the winter months when grass does not grow we bring our cows and horses in  and keep them in the barn.  We feed them hay and bed them down with sawdust from the local sawmill.   Each time we put in a new layer of sawdust we first sprinkle in some shelled corn.   In the spring time we put the cows and horses back out on pasture and turn the pigs in where the cows and horses have been.   They will go routing after the corn and in so doing they turn that bedded pack into nice rich compost.   We then apply this compost on our cover crops and also on the fields after the produce is done for the year.   This will be fertilizer for the next year's crops.

 

 For the chickens we have a portable shelter that we call an egg mobile.   We like to rotate it around on our cover crops  and grass land.   The chickens will eat the grass and cover crops.   Whatever part they don't convert into those delicious golden colored eggs they, drop back on the soil which really seems to build the soil well.'