Harvesting

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I last posted. Time goes by so fast! We have been busy harvesting, canning, and preparing for the Fall crop to go in.

We have harvested over 400 cucumbers, about 20 cantaloupe, 20 honeydew, and over 30 watermelons. We even harvested about 25 pumpkins already. We are so grateful all of the bounty.

Damian has canned dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, and relish. I have canned pickled watermelon rinds and plan to make watermelon jelly too. I even found a recipe for  honeydew ice cream that I intend to try soon!

Since we have had so much fun and success, Damian and I plan to continue our farming this Fall by planting cooler weather crops soon. There will be cabbages, broccoli, artichokes, and more. Check for more updates soon!



Me holding some of our cantaloupes



Honeydew

We have had massive amounts of cucumbers

Mounds of melons

Harvested some pumpkins early too!!

Woohoo! Our farm is offically making some money!

Thanks to our plentiful cucumber harvest we are now $25 richer! We found someone to buy 25 of our cucumbers for $1 each. Woohoo! There are those naysayers that says that farmers don't make any money. Well, I have proof that farmers CAN make money.

In addition to making money, we are feeding others with healthy cucumbers. We used organic practices and feel good about our produce. They were grown with soil enriched with compost, organic seeds, water, and sunshine. They were NOT grown with pesticides, genetically modified seed, or treated with chemical fertilizers. We did not deplete the nutrients in the soil with man-made chemicals and toxins. We used the soil to grow nutritious produce and will continue to feed the soil with our organic compost that we make from the plant waste at the farm.
Now, if we can sell the other 100+ cucumbers growing, we will be organically farming our way to financial freedom!... Or, at least, we will be able to pay for the the irrigation system we want to put in before our fall planting gets started.

Tickeled to PICKLE!!

Our cucumbers are ready to be harvested and we have A LOT of them! Damian came back from the farm with over thirty cucumbers and was pumped with pickling possibilities! I have never seen a man to excited to pickle.

He did his research and watched approximately one million YouTube videos about the best pickling practices, got a recipe, and went to the store to gather all the materials. Since we have never pickled before, we needed to get all the basic equipment which included:

• 1 large pot
• 1 Canner - which is a huge pot
• Pint canning jars
• Jar grabber
• Lids
• Rings
• Lid lifter
• Jar funnel

In addition to all the basic equipment, he came home with massive quanitities of vinegar and the biggest box of kosher salt I have ever. Then, he got to work.

Baskets of cucumbers



Some cucumbers are yellow, but still the same inside

 

Ready to cut them up



All the materials are gathered

Pots are ready

Water is boiling

Boiled pickle jars

Pickle jars are carefully lifted out



The final product - kosher dill pickles!! Now we just have to wait 4 weeks to eat them!

 

Cucumber beetles on steroids!

We continue to try to find the best ways to organically deal with bug pressure. Since we have lifted the row covers, the cucumber beetles and squash beetles have been ever present. I guess it is to be expected because we have 15 rows of cucurbit plants (cucumbers, melons, and pumpkins) they LOVE. 

At first, the little cucumber beetles were easy to catch and squish; however, they must have gotten a prescription for steroids, because they are now HUGE! Huge bugs have huge appetites and also cause more damage. The most damaging part of an infestation of cucumber beetles is that they transmit  bacterial mosaic and wilts with their mouths. When they are actively feeding again they transmit the diseases from plant to plant.  Symptoms of these diseases are wilting and death of plants.

Normal small cucumber beetles

Our cucumber beetles are on steroids

We have noticed some wilt and damage to our pumpkin plants as well as some of the cucumbers. We are also noticing fungus like spores on some of our pumpkin plants which are rotting a few of the baby pumpkins. 

   

Fungus on plants

 

 

Rotten Pumpkin

I have caught and squished more beetles than I can count. Today, I tried using my battery operated vacuum, but it ran out of power after one row, so it wasn't that helpful. I have also sprayed two organic products - neem oil and diatomaceous earth to try and cut down on the number of huge, hungry beetles. Unfortunately, the infestation doesn't seem to be gone yet and I am worried the cucumber beetles are going to start eating my watermelons and cantaloupes.

When farming, I am struggling with wanting to protect every single plant  because of the time I spent growing them from a seed and the emotional attachment I have gained along the way. Yes, they are plants and I may be too sentimental. I also realize that I  am getting a little too angered at bugs that are doing what comes natural to them because will affect MY harvest. I am tempted to go buy insecticide that will just kill the cucumber beetles - the quick fix. However, those insecticides don't just damage the  bugs. They could also damage the soil, my lungs, and whoever eats the produce we are growing. The organic philosophy is to treat the earth well and feed the soil with nutrients not toxins and in turn it will be able to grow healthier produce. We are still building up the soil and learning about what to do to help and not hurt the earth.

I recognize the importance of companion planting to bring in beneficial insects that eat the pest bugs. I would love it if beneficial bugs could eat all of our cucumber beetles. We have noticed small pockets of tachnid flies, assassin bugs, and other beneficial insects that eat cucumber beetles; however, the infestation is too much for them to cure. Since, it is too late to plant the beneficial plants this season, Damian and I have one more organically approved product - pyrethrum (derived from chrysanthemums) - we are going to try before we learn a hard lesson and harvest what the cucumber beetles don't eat.







Babies, Babies, and MORE BABIES!

Meet baby Boba! She is our mud digging, leaf biting, and plant romping "farm puppy." We still have a lot of training to do because she barks and growls at the weeding hoes whenever we try to use them, she thinks that our baby watermelons are "balls," and she has tried to dig up one of our cucumber plants. She is really good at the tugging game, so if I can teach her the difference between a weed and good plant, I think we will have us one awesome weed pulling puppy. :)  One thing is for sure, she runs and rolls around enough at the farm to tire herself out for the rest of the evening. Thank goodness!

Besides baby Boba, we have all kinds of baby melons, pumpkins, and cucumbers! We are so excited that they are ACTUALLY GROWING! Last night, Damian and I both realized that we have no clue how to tell when any of our produce is ready to harvest, so that will be our next thing to start reading about.

 

Ohhh DEER! Ohhh dear!

Yes, the deer have struck again. This time they have eaten edamame, cucumbers, and melons. It is almost time to wage war against these huge four-legged eating machines. I have tried: garlic, fish emulsion,  strategic urination, wind chimes, stinky shirts, and hanging cds. It is almost time to invest in an electric fence in order to protect our produce and all our hard work. Someone told us we could get a system for $200; however, after looking at the local farm and hardware stores, we calculated it would be around $400. Yikes! That is way more than I want to spend on deer prevention, but we might have to do it

On a happier note, our plants are huge and healthy! We finally lifted most of the row covers because our plants are flowering and we wanted them to get pollinated. A few of the pumpkin vines had actually pushed against the row covers so hard that they punched a hole through it. I can sew that up later!
We are also noticing the benefits of our mounded rows in retaining water. Since this weekend is the beginning of a seven day heat wave where temperatures are going to be over a hundred degrees, we watered for four hours on Saturday and the soil around the plants was actually  still moist when we got there Sunday. We still watered a little so they can get through this heat wave. Hopefully, we are not watering too much.

I have attached a video of what our farm looks like now. It starts by showing you pieces of our newest project at the farm - a compost bin!

Urban Farm Tour

Today, we attended the Urban Farm tour sponsored by Lincoln University. It was well organized, orchestrated, and attended. I can honestly say that I have never met a nicer group of people than I met today. It was a group of people who cared about health, took time to grow their own food, and gave back to their communities. There is A LOT of time and effort involved in running a farm and we saw 6 great examples of how to do it well within the city of St. Louis. We visited the following farms:

Global Farm - located close to Vandeventer and Tower Grove - refugees and immigrants from the International Institute of St. Louis learn English, a skilled trade, and volunteer their time to grow enough for their families and for Tower Grove Farmer's Market on an acre of land.

New Roots Farm - located in Mullaphy Square close to downtown - quarter acre farm growing a bounty of vegetables. There are tilapia, chickens, and honey bee hives on this farm. They have a three person CSA and sell at two different farmer's markets.

Bee Sweet Urban Farm - located by Martin Luther King Blvd. - an orchard and vegetable farm run by prettiest woman farmer I have ever seen. They have an active education component  to this farm that teaches children and teenagers everything from plant growth, maintaining a farm, and canning foods. 

Catholic Academy - located by Kingshighway and I-70 - growing vegetables and educating youth about farming practices and healthy eating. They have a small plot but I am impressed at all of the things they are able to grow in that space.

Yours Market - located off of Broadway and I-70 - a grocery store and farm. They are growing and selling their own produce as well as other grocery store items. They were a source of inspiration and an anchor business in their community.

EarthDance Farms - located in Ferguson, MO - a 3 acre farm that has 36 interns and a 100 person CSA that is booming. The farm director combines her loves for farming with an abundance of fun community events.




I learned new information about pest control, weed suppression, and growing strategies. I met a lot of inspiring individuals and Damian and I left with new ideas for our future organic farm.