Muddy Monday

Well, the rain continues!  It rained on and off ALL DAY Monday.  I don't think I remember a time when I was covered in more mud.  Here is a nice group photo of all of us, looking like a bunch of drowned rats.  Actually, in the photo you can't really see the mud.  In fact, the only reason I'm doing bunny ears in the photo is so you can see my muddy gloves.  To really get the best idea, we should have taken photos of our boots.  The accumulating mud and straw on our boots was nearly enough to build a small house.

Front row, L-R: Laura, Meghan, Maria, Claire, Megan.  Back row: me, Rosemary, Austin, Andy, Jake, Jenna, Liz, Stephanie, Michelle.

The rain has that nasty habit of curtailing some of our activities on the farm, but we made the best of it and weeded as much as we could.  We got into the peas, tomatillos, brassicas, winter squash, and tomatoes.  Then we spent the rest of the day mulching the tomatoes.  Most of them were flowering already, and I even saw some fruits!  So we are doing it just in time.  Now we have to trellis!

Today was CSA harvest day.  We have quite a bountiful share this week!  Spinach, lettuce mix, lettuce heads, radishes, turnips, peas, garlic scapes, and broccoli.  We have a great crew, so we got it all done, with time to spare in the afternoon (for more weeding, no doubt).   The peas are the new item this week. We didn't get as many as I would like, but the ones we did get were tender and sweet and delicious.  Green candy!  While picking them, it seemed as if the rain helped make the plants bigger, but didn't necessarily help produce more peas.  This was a bit frustrating, as several plants were higher than the trellis and falling over, making them difficult to assess.  And then most of them had few peas, which I was surprised at.  Hopefully the peas will start producing like gangbusters next week.

Well, I'm off to my 15th Carleton Reunion this weekend, and to visit some friends in Minneapolis the following week.  So I won't be back until next Friday, June 25th.  I wonder how much the farm will change in the week that I'm gone?