These Rainy Days

Middle section of the field, mid-May.

So, it has been raining a bit. Like every time we want to get in the field (I suppose that is every day). We prefer to stay off the field when it is really wet, as it causes compaction. Although, when it's as consistently wet asit has been, and we have people to feed, we have no choice, and we end up popping out into the field for chores that need doing. We installed our large wooden bean trellises--for the 10' pole beans and I will go out in the muck and plant those today, along with our bush beans.

Brooke direct seeding.

I was out seeding beets, radishes, spinach and carrots the other day, when the neighbors came to plant soybeans. So there is me with my one-row direct seeder, with the contrast of their many, many row seeder. Go small farmers!!

So what do we do on these rainy days? The rain gave us time to work on other tasks to get ready for the CSA delivery season. Hazel helped John pick out recipes for our newsletters (below). A new book we have been checking out is From Asparagus to Zucchini. 

John (and Hazel) perusing the recipe books.

We spent half the day Monday in the packing shed, stocking, painting and doing work to get it ready for harvesting. The packing shed is where we store our produce, and pack our orders and CSA boxes. We store boxes, bags and such packaging items in here, and we also have a space for drying/curing onions, garlic and potatoes.

Getting the packing shed ready for the season.

Stocking the cupboard with Minnesota Grown labels and twistie-ties, as well as rubber bands, apple bags, mesh bags and towels.

Stocking the shelves.

John installed the flooring for the walk-in cooler. This flooring will be easier to clean, and provide a little extra insulation.

John installing the walk-in cooler flooring.

I put two layers of paint on the outside of the cooler, and painted a shelf.

Brooke painting the outside of the walk-in cooler.

 The moisture has been great for everything that is planted in the field--plants are germinating and growing great! Those darn weeds are too--when all this rain subsides we may just having a weeding party!!

Have a great day!

Photo Update 8.8.12

 Aunt Molly's heirloom ground cherries--2 pounds worth. They are really starting to produce now, which is a great way to tide us over until we start getting tomatoes!

 Last weekend we were working on the packing shed a lot! The cooler structure is officially DONE now, which is a great, great feeling. We just need to install the CoolBot device and throw a coat of paint on the walls. The CoolBot is installed into the AC unit to help us get the cooler temperatures we need.

 Thanks to John's folks for coming out and helping paint & build the cooler! We got one coat of paint on the outside of the packing shed as well.

 Mammoth Red Rock heirloom cabbage.

Our three varieties of cucumbers we are growing this season: Suyo Long, Double Yield (regular green slicer, pickler), & Poona Kheera (whiteish-yellow, turning brown when sweetest, good fresh slicer).