I visited the Ness farm right after we got back from vacation. At the time I was in far too much pain from the drive home from vacation to do more than take a few pics and weed a few rows. Kids and Patti were not in much better shape. Since then Patti has had 4 spinal injections to deal with pain and inflamation, but the kids are doing ok, and I was, after 6 days, feeling well enough to do maintenance of the type needed here, so I headed out with all 4 kids while Patti laid on ice packs back at home.
First thing I did was pull the Walla Walla onions. Nearly all were laying down so it was time to get them out. I had not grown them before, and unless they blow me away on taste I am not going to grow them again. Wildly variable on size, with most fairly small. Just a few which may hit a pound with most a third that size. Not being a long keeper onion I will be dehydrating them for dried onions.
Kids all had their own jobs. Phoebe’s was to keep an eye on Violet while Violet did whatever the hell she wanted to, short of things that would cause herself or others injury. She ran all over the place nearly the entire time we were there, and now is thankfully asleep (along with all the other kids).
Running. That is really what she did the whole time.
Oh, surprise. Another pic of Violet running.
For my part, I got the whole thing mowed. Was a pain in the ass. Grass between rows, other than in the corn which is shading things out, was over a foot tall. Squashes are expanding rapidly, and the Baby Vi Mochata is far outperforming everything else. I did find one that is not a long crookneck which is ok. I am not roughing out off-types, just selecting for what I want, which while I understand is not the accepted way of doing things, works just fine for my purposes. Having a few traditional butternut shaped fruits is not a big deal.
I just do not save seeds from the plants/fruits which are not how I want them to be. They all taste the same.
Claire weeded and Nell hauled water. Both did a good job of what I had asked of them.
Cabbage plants are getting even more (if possible) huge.
Corn has set a good number of cobs. (blue speckled flour here)
Corn plants are large and healthy. Here is Violet and Phoebe making their way through the pink flour corn rows.
Just a photo showing how long the Iroquois/Tuscarora White Flour corn cobs are. In the past, I have had cobs up to 14 inches, although with how closely I have spaced the plants here it would surprise me to get cobs that long. I would bet that 10-12 will be more the norm this year on the best plants.
And this is just a shot, from just before we left, of the southern side of the garden out at the Ness farm. You can see about a third of it from this angle.this is after I mowed, and one of the beds of onions have been pulled.
So that is where we are. Things are up in the air right now. I have plans on attending a fermentation class tomorrow at Pasture Addickes farm tomorrow, but my father in law has had an issue which might come first. We will see.
