Zucchino Rampicante turns out to be a VERY prolific squash. The skin is tough, so must be peeled, and the pulp is similar in taste to a winter squash. Cut into slices and sautéed in olive oil, it's quite good.
Rare Seeds, my source for heirloom seeds, says it's good for baking so suspect this will turn up in a pie soon.
Lemon cucumbers are also coming in and the bees are very fond of their flowers. Melons are also doing quite well and should be ready to pick soon.
Work has finished on the long driveway into the property, up to the temporary home and back to the middle pasture where the future house and cottage will go.
See driveway photos. It took many loads of dirt to raise the driveway's low spots. Because the front pasture had an area that was consistently wet, I pulled dirt from this area and had it sculpted into what is now a one-acre pond—or rather, a one-acre hole. Heavy rains moved in the day after the crew finished the pond, leaving a few puddles of water. It will take awhile to fill. As the rain fell, a dinner-plate size snapping turtle dragged itself to the top of the pond wall and stared out into the hole.
After the dirt-moving equipment finished the first day of work in the pond area, I found a
woodland vole running frantically in circles across the large expanse of sun-baked earth left void of its vegetation. I deposited it in a nest of leaves in the small forested area next to the Bee Haven. This brings up a difficult question. One of my goals is to care for and nurture our land, yet heavy equipment, in the process of establishing the farm infrastructure, leaves uprooted trees, bare exposed earth and displaced creatures. How do I reconcile my need to make space for a farm and meet my goal of treating the Earth gently?
Treating the Earth gently is one thing. Sharing my produce with Tobacco
Hornworms is quite another. I discovered them feasting on tomatoes and wonder berries. For now, hand-picking the worms appears to work, and as an added bonus, provides fishing bait. I hooked, then returned, a
Bluegill Sunfish from the small pond using the hornworm as bait.
The bees now have a third 8-frame super on each hive. I added a queen separator between this box and the last. If they're able to fill the box, perhaps I'll get honey this year after all.
The 100-degree plus heat wave continues, making movement in the garden slower than usual. Sometimes you just have to take a break and paddle for awhile. My son put a canoe out on the pond for just that purpose.
I've harvested the first crops, purple plum radish and summer squash. Tomatoes, beans, peas and more are progressing. Eggplant has been decimated by
Colorado Potato Beetle. See
garden photos.
Drip tape is hooked-up and I'm now able to water the garden using the generator to operate the well pump.
