The summer harvest season seems to have taken a step towards drudgery. What used to be a frantic race each day to get the harvest in has become ....there's nothing to do. It is so hard to see this at what should be a busy time of the year.
The broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are being harvested (and sprayed for the bugs). They were a big enough plant to survive the hail storm..although there are no leaves left to wrap the cauliflower like we would normally do. That might make the cauliflower less white than usual...but they are still available for harvest and we are thankful for that.
The zucchini you have seen that hail damage on already...but that is just skin damage and still very edible. Hopefully you are enjoying those!
We are very thankful for local growers who are helping us out to keep our supply for you.. We could not do it without their help. Local growers have provided us with celery, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, kale, chard, lettuce,herbs, etc. As you can tell...that soon becomes a big part of your basket. But we trust their growing practices and we are certain that you are still getting the high quality of produce that you know and expect.
We are working on cleaning up things in the gardens....the berry patch is getting a good weeding so that it will be good for the winter and hopefully produce early for us next year. At this point in the year that is all we can do. By the time we would have fruit again...we could be battling hard frosts (unless we get a good Indian summer!) So we are just being very realistic and doing the best we can under the circumstances.
The carrots are there...but still too small to dig, the potatoes are there..getting dug fresh every week. The onions are still small..and top damage inhibits their ability to size up like they should. The chard is coming back..and slowly the kale. There is a nice crop of beets coming...probably start harvest on that soon. There is a small batch of young beans that seems to have survived and we look forward to harvesting those once they are ready.
We have reseeded some crops to put in the greenhouse.. we are going to stuff it full of lettuce and beans and hopefully get back to fresh harvest on those in the late fall. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are looking beautiful and we are just starting to harvest the first ones. We are very thankful that our greenhouse survived...it still gives us something that is growing safely!
We appreciate your support and we know that it is not the harvest you or I had hoped for....but knowing that you support us even when the times are tough....reminds me why we offer our CSA program.. The community spirit is alive and thriving at Noble Gardens!! THANK YOU!
