Updates have been slow in coming recently. I would love to say that it is because we have been too busy harvesting from our over-achieving garden. Bushels of green beans, stuffed peppers, and cans and cans of plump ripe tomatoes, but I don't have a poker face, and if you could see me now, you would know that I am a dreadful liar. I promised to take you on our journey of black thumb to green thumb however it played out, and so it is time for a rather honest update.
I haven't ventured into our garden too much over the past few days. One reason is that we have been busy stacking the seemingly endless cords of wood to get us through the ever-looming winter months. We have moved bales of hay and rotated animals in pasture. This time of year is also our time to make sure all the animals are in real good health before breeding season is upon us. Amongst that, and of course, the beginning of school, things have been a little hectic. Although to be honest with you, I think I have been avoiding the garden. However, I am choosing to see the glass half full and not half empty. I'm choosing to look past the rather happy family of wood chucks that have dined a la carte at the Farm to Table Restaurant on Dutch Hill Road. I'm choosing to see the good and not the bad! That being said we seem to be able to grow corn real well. I'm not sure if that is because wood chucks don't like it or that it grew too fast they could no longer reach it. Our corn still needs to mature but it is reaching for the skies and doing a very good job of it too....
The beans, well they are non-existent, not even photo worthy, gone, zilch, nader, nicht .... nothing, but a full healthy belly for a family of wood chucks. The peppers are trying their hardest too. Unfortunately, we have at least ten plants that look phenomenal, healthy, green, and vibrant yet no flowers and no peppers. We have some that have come in but unfortunately before they get big enough for us to harvest this happens.....
On a more positive note, I did harvest four cherry tomatoes from our garden. Not quite enough for all of us but it is a start. The potato plants also seem to be reaching for the stars, and as we faithfully keep mounding up compost and hay around them as they grow, we are ever-hopeful that a bountiful crop of potatoes is actually growing underneath all that protective layer of goodness! One can be hopeful at least, right?!!!
So, our gardening journey has been full of ups and downs. I would say it is ground hogs 3, Bewick family 1 right now. However, next year promises to be more rewarding for us and less so for the population of groundhogs dining at our outdoor restaurant. My husband has plans for a more ground hog proof outer perimeter fence for next year's season. In the meantime, we will be thankful for the harvest we manage to clutch from the jaws of the Dutch Hill wildlife and ever so thankful for the opportunity to learn!
Well, that is it for our gardening journey for now, but check back with us in a day or two we hope to have an end of summer give-away! No purchase necessary, but you will need to live in the USA! Have a great day and thanks for walking this journey with us.
Annabel