Yesterday I was walking through the orchard when the above colony of caterpillars caught my eye. I asked them what they thought they were doing-- who had invited them to this tree--- but they didn't answer and kept on eating. Although I would prefer to "live and let live", these guys were quickly denuding the tree of its leaves, leaving behind not a single one, and I felt I had to do something. Luckily these caterpillars seemed to think there was safety in numbers and all stuck together all in an undulating, writhing mass, so I was able to remove them all with one swift cut of the clippers. Here's a close up of the colony. "Trigger" warning: many will find it is extremely gross. 
All the marketing experts I've consulted tell me I should only showcase the positive, beautiful aspects of the farm, and definately not close ups of bugs, but I prefer to show you things as they are, and sometimes Nature doesn't come in tidy little boxes. And truth be told, I actually find these caterpillars beautiful in their own way. Luckily we don't have a lot of insect pest pressure on this farm-- being certified organic, we don't have a lot of options when they do appear-- but, as with so many things, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Now here's a much nicer photo of some tomatoes, neatly pruned and trellised. 
A few are starting to ripen (there were more on the other photo I took, but there were also a lot of weeds, and I was embarrassed to show it to you. Showing you things as they are is fine, but only after I've weeded). Hopefully there will be a few next week, but the main field crop won't come in for another three.
Other crop news: the first bean planting was almost all eaten by a groundhog. The groundhog has since been relocated and the second and third plantings look much better. Eggplant are a week away and if the blackberries fulfill their promise, there should be some of them as well. The onion crop looks plentiful. Right now we're only giving out fresh (uncured) sweet onions-- they should be refrigerated until such time as they are eaten. Red, white and yellow storage onions will be available in a few weeks.
As always,
John
