Signs it's Summer: Cherry Tomatoes and Conversations about Beer

Ah yes, today was One of Those Days.  Hot, hot, hot!  It was warm and sunny this morning, so much so that a group of us decided to go get either ice cream or beer after it was all over.  Pretty soon, we decided on beer.  It just seemed so refreshing an idea at the time.  After lunch, however, it was another story.  Now the sun was high, and weeding was our task.  We chose to hand pull weeds out of the mulch in the leeks, while Andy and Meghan used the wheel hoe to clear the paths in the beans and basil.  We all drank as much water as we could, but were decidedly zombie-like most of the afternoon from the hot sun, the sporadic breezes, and the swarm of mosquitoes that surrounded us in a humming fog.  Not to mention that the weeds we were pulling were quite large and difficult to pull from the dry, hard ground.  When 3 o'clock rolled around, we went to Ale Asylum for that beer.  And water.  We still needed to hydrate.

This morning, CSA harvest was a breeze, due to the fact that so many beans were picked yesterday.  All the workers (maybe 10?) spent all their time (four hours) picking 12 beds of beans!  They got over 300 pounds!  So there wasn't much left to harvest; some cucumbers, squash, and a choice of herb (basil, thyme, chives, or mint).  The rest of the time, we spent trellising the last 2 rows of tomatoes, one of which is cherry tomatoes and actually needed to be harvested already!  These last rows were so overgrown, it was difficult to decipher which suckers needed to be pruned and which should remain on the plant.  Also, it was nearly impossible to do this without doing some damage to them, since they were so entangled with one another and growing in all kinds of crazy directions.

Monday, as always, seems so long ago already.  On field tour, weeds were everywhere as usual, tomatoes needed to be finished, and several things need to be destroyed (pea trellis, just as soon as we get our pea seed out for next year) or tilled under (goodbye fennel, radishes, lettuce).  New clover is popping up in the winter squash, the old clover is re-growing due to a fresh mowing, and all the remay on the brassicas is coming off, flea beetles be damned.

Next week, we continue harvesting beans and cherry tomatoes, and start harvesting tomatillos and hot peppers!  Summer's bounty is here at last!