This all started with turnips–the small, white, sweet, perfect-to-eat-like-popcorn Hakurei salad turnips. They are one of the delicious early summer treats, and they are so good in salads made of early greens like arugula and spinach. We first harvested these precious roots about four weeks ago from the glass green house. At first glance they were glorious! They were a promise of summer all wrapped up in a beautiful white package.
And then we started picking.
Minimal damage on these tasty treats! As farm workers, we sometimes get the uglies…but we know it’s what’s on the inside that counts!
So far we’ve been pretty lucky in the pest department. Flea beetle on cole crops can be bothersome but row cover pretty much takes care of that. Unfortunately it’s tomato and potato late blight we have to guard against and possibly deer. Nice to read your post. I don’t suppose you’re anywhere near Soldotna are you? My brother knows a CSA farmer piton Funny River Road but hey, it’s the largest state in the union so chances are slim!
We are about three hours from Soldotna, so not very close! I hope the farm wasn’t harmed by the funny river fire that was blazing a few weeks ago. I’m super glad we don’t have blight issues up here.
Squash bugs are the bane of my existence! I may just stop planting zucchini and pumpkins for a couple of years.. They don’t seem to bother the cucumbers so much, but how they love those zucchini. Chiggers are also out in droves in Kansas this year – maybe a trade-off for the nice rain we’ve had lately.
WEEDS are my worst pest…we get a few Japanese beetles, that eat bean leaves, and some sort of weird worm got into my few brocolli plants but haven’t traveled over to the cabbage. I’m the weeder here. My husband tries, but he’s disabled and can’t do a lot (which makes him mad, but there’s not much he can do about it)…no one else here has an ounce of patience. My youngest grandson helps a little – at least he takes the weeds and dumps them in the chicken pen when I can catch him! I use NO pesticides, my fertilizer is goat, rabbit and chicken manure composted with whatever weeds that the chickens don’t get and some grass clippings, barn straw gets in the mix… it seems to work. My crops are always later than others because we get less direct sunshine in this hollow than in most places (and the rest of our property is wooded hillsides!) – welcome to the WV hills!
The other day I accused my dear husband of pulling some of my carrots thinking they were weeds….sigh….have any of you seen or remember Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. See Bugs was always traveling here and there and well, ya know a bunny has to eat! Well invariably, Bugs always ended up under Elmer’s garden…that man got around a lot too! And the scene always goes like this…Elmer is standing admiring his fine looking carrots when all of a sudden, the plant starts to shake and bam! disappears! much to Elmer’s shock and frustration….well, I would be Elmer and the varmit would be a gopher. Who knew those little buggers could swipe a whole carrot plant with such stealth and speed. Gophers and I are not friends! With that said, an old remedy my Grandmother used was Ivory Liquid dish soap and castor oil, whipped, and a half cup added to a gallon of water and poured down every gopher hole you can find. It doesn’t poison anything, they hate the smell and it just chases them off. As this is not a poison icky, it will take a few applications.It is working for me, no more Elmer moments so far.
Thanks Diann!
Oh yeah, Bugs was a good bug-like pest to ol’ Elmer. Do the gophers steal your carrots from underground? If so, that is kind of awesome in a gophers-have-evolved-in-a-very-smart-way kind of way. Thanks for the poison free remedy! I’ll have to share it with my mom who has gopher issues. Ivory soap seems to be the go to for pest related remedies, I wonder why?
I grew up on a farm in west northwest Minnesota. Way back when…. I am 75 five now, so… I loved the farm (dirt poor, as it was .. But we kids didn’t know that) . I mostly did outside work with my brothers. Gardens, making hay, picking any fruit that grew, milking cows, cleaning barn…whatever.. But loved my doll (no plural here) and cooked and baked too. No such thing as “busy work” then. We were all needed. I Thank God for those days. Gave me a wonderful foundation as I went on to become a nurse (RN) and had a good work ethic throughout my career. I so enjoy reading your blog. Helps bring back long-forgotten memories. Thank You
Thanks for sharing these fond memories with us. Where in northwest Minnesota? My family is from Fargo and I’ve spent a good amount of time in Detroit Lakes. Kids and farming go pretty well together, I think! work gets accomplished while kids are outside, they get to use their imaginations and build up immune systems, too. Plus, it’s hard to beat a hands-on experiential education. Thank you!
Hi Alexandra!!
I was so excited to read your post today, especially the part when you said,” just had an epiphany that I should do a series of photographs of farming hands….it would be beautiful and telling of the true nature of farming and how intimately a farmer knows her land and crops” and you could elaborate on what a day in the life of a farmer really looks like! We are hopefully moving to Montana soon, and I would love to farm and I always have questions when we take our long road trips to Montana from LA, as to what do farmers do in their day, what is that field of crops that we just passed, how long do they work in a day etc… that would be a joy to read as I have enjoyed all of ypour posts:)
Kind Regards,
Deborah
I’ve been thinking about that “epiphany” a lot of over the past two weeks! Perhaps I’ll start during the next month when I’m in the upper midwest! I just need to learn a bit more about photography (or ask dear hubby to edit photos for me). Thanks for the kind words!