Tomatoes!

Posted on June 22, 2013 by Mark

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Sorting tomatoes for tomorrows orders. We were not at the market today due to a wedding so have plenty of ‘maters. Church folk, let us know if you want to buy some, we can bring extras.

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Summer Harvest and Fall Preparation

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Mark

IMG_4671Peak summer is here in central Texas. The cool weather crops have finished their run and the summer melons, cucumbers, and tomatoes are hitting full stride.  There’s a cantaloupe nestled in the vine at left.  We trellised some melons this year by mistake.  Originally thought to be cucumbers we double checked the planting chart too late.  The melons are growing OK but without support the heavy melons can’t grow to full weight without putting too much stress on the vine.

Below are okra, cucumbers, and green beans.  Our green bean crop has been disappointing.  The pods were slower to grow and by the time we started to get a decent harvest, the grasshoppers were hitting them hard.

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IMG_4668When the cool weather crops are harvested, we pull up the plastic mulch and till those rows, then plant a cover crop or late summer crop.  Pictured here are the first rows of the garden – we’ll replant several in pumpkin and winter squash and put the rest in blackeyed peas to keep the soil well covered during the rest of the hot summer.

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The final photo shows the newly tilled plot for our main fall garden.  We’ll let the main summer garden rest during the fall and winter and mainly use this new plot – just adjacent to the summer plot. We’ve tilled the new plot 3 times over about 6 weeks to try to kill out the pasture grass.  Before the last pass, we sowed blackeyed peas.  They’ll grow all summer to keep the soil covered.  Then we’ll till them again in late August and plant for the fall and winter in early September.

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Farmers Market at Elgin HEB

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Mark

IMG_4666Elgin’s HEB grocery store has graciously invited farmers from the weekly Farmers Market to sell local produce Wednesdays from 4pm-7pm for the next several weeks.  We’re at peak harvest right now so it’s great to have a couple days to sell each week.

Several other farmers from the association are participating – providing eggs, cut flowers, and candles – as well as a good assortment of vegetables and herbs.

We hope you’ll drop by and say hello!

 

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Peak Harvest

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Mark

IMG_4642It’s the middle of May and the garden is in full production.  The cool weather crops are peaking while the warm weather varieties are starting to ripen.

Along with the lettuces, cabbages, and carrots we’ve had the past several weeks, this week we also have big, beautiful, delicious broccoli!  We sold out at the market and hope to have plenty the next several weeks as long as the weather doesn’t get too hot.

Squash is getting ripe, so we brought a few zucchini and yellow squash and sold out of them pretty quickly.  Looking forward to much more squash in the weeks to come.

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This was our best week yet at the market and we are grateful for the friends and repeat customers we’re getting more familiar with each week.

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First Day at the Farmers Market

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Mark

IMG_4626The big day is here – first sale day at the Elgin Farmers Market.  We got an early start, loading ice chests and boxes before 7:00am.  With the cooler weather, thankfully some of the bulky cabbages and lettuces were fine in simple cardboard boxes for the short 20 minute drive to downtown Elgin.

We loaded the truck with tables, chairs, the canopy and ice chests, along with assorted baskets.

 

 

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We arrived at the market about 8:15 and starting setting up the tables and canopy and experimenting with ways of best presenting the produce for sale.

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Right about 9:00am, the team is ready as the market opens.  We anxiously wait to see if anyone will actually buy what we’ve been growing these several months.

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First sale!  Our first customer bought several items and we had a great chat with a new friend.   Overall, we had about 20 different customers and sold a lot of what we brought.  A great start we are all pleased with.  Looking forward to next week already!

 

 

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First Market Harvest

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Mark

Several weeks into the season, we think have enough produce to justify our first trip to the farmers market.  Harvesting carrots, lettuce, chard, and other greens.  The team works past sunset preparing for the big day tomorrow.

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Rapid Growth Toward Harvest

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Mark

IMG_4500As the weather warms in April and May, the seedlings and transplants really take off.  To the left are potatoes.  We grew these under plastic, as you can see.  This made it difficult to hill the soil around the growing potatoes.  We got a good crop of smaller ones, but next year we’ll keep the plastic off of these.  The weed may get a foothold, but the potatoes should grow bigger.

The photos below are of chinese (napa) cabbage, traditional cabbage and broccoli all growing toward an expected harvest in early May.  You see the cucumbers are just getting started while the onions and lettuces in the background are thriving.

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