It has been a good week. I finished planting sweet potates when I got home from market this afternoon. If I had looked at the forecast and realized it was supposed to rain tomorrow, I probably would have madly harvested instead. We need the rain though. We have concentrated on planting this week, so I am not real sure just what is there to harvest – peas, teenage lettuces, pac choi, braising greens, scallions. In the cooler we have garlic scapes and potatoes. In the cooler we have garlic scapes and potatoes. I am feeling the lack of broccoli and beets from those first failed plantings when it was so dry. I watered, but probably planted too deeply in an effort to keep them moist. And the flea beetles were just outrageous early on. On yes, the chard and kale are looking good and should be relatively easy to harvest. We have enough clay in our soil that it is hard to keep boots on when it is wet (the boots get bigger and bigger) and it can get slippery enough to be exciting at times. So warning, I will either be a real muddy mess at pickup, or will have showered and put on totally clean/dry clothes. My hope is that it rains well tonight and quits by 6 a.m. St least the basil is in the hoophouse so that will be an easy harvest, and it is growing very well.
Everyone seemed to like the 5 points for small shares/10 points for large shares last week. Any suggestions on how to help you keep count? My early plan was to print labels and you could afix a label to flip charts by each item. I don’t think that is a great idea – you don’t want to hassle with peeling labels and throwing the backing away, and flip charts are not only expensive but will blow over on windy days. Marbles are too bulky. I am thinking there must be some game cards, like bingo chips or somesuch, that would be thick enough to be easy to handle but thin enough that I can give you several week’s worth at a time in an envelope. Ideas? I don’t even know where to look.
My sewing machine has cost more in tension adjustments in recent years than it is worth, and prices have come way down on new ones, so I have ordered a new sewing machine. When it comes, we can make reusable tee-shirt bags. I have a friend who goes to thrift stores and is going to get a bunch fairly inexpensively for me, but if you would like to clean out your drawers and get rid of old tee-shirts, bring them with you. I did get as far as cutting the sleeves and neck out of a couple tee-shirts, but the tension just would not make a good stitch. The sewing part will be the quickest, so I may just make the quick seams and let you cut the sleeves and neck when you need a bag.
See you Thursday.
