Lessons I'm Learning

      If we've learned anything over the last 35 years living in the country, surrounded by woods, it's that we are part of a very complicated web - a fascinating and sometimes frustrating web. Each year the cohorts in this web teach us something new, including new skills.

      For example, the birds have taught me how to wrestle with bird-netting. I hate the stuff. It's worse than a pile of a coat hangers. And I hate some of the birds because of it. Especially the robins.

Culprit!

The blue jays too, though mainly because they're just noisy bullies.

      But, I have to remind myself that they earn their keep in other ways, like eating bad bugs. At least the robins do – not sure about the jays. I offer temptations and they're quick to partake - thank you very much.

      I can confirm that robins love berries, at least some kinds: strawberries, blueberries and gooseberries, for sure. They like others that I haven't planted, such as currants and cherries. They used to love my elderberry too, but I dug it out. Sometimes they get the chokecherries before I do. But, oddly, they don't like raspberries so we don't have to net those. Everything else we do. Well, except the rhubarb. They don't like that either.

     

No netting! Just the side fence. 

Today, I took the netting off the biggest strawberry patch, which takes as long as it does to put it up. It's been a great strawberry year, but they're slowing down with the heat. Fine with me. With all that danged bird netting, picking them is backbreaking. You have to hunch down and/or crawl around, trying not to squish berries in the process. We got plenty. The birds can have the puny few left.

     Meanwhile, I'll be trying to get into the blueberry cage gracefully. Once in, it's fine. We've rigged it up so you can actually stand up and walk around. Bliss!

White string holds netting down around blueberries on either side of funky "door"

       I haven't figured out how to make a good entrance to fenced/netted spaces. Maybe because I'm too cheap to invest in a truly elegant door or gate. I'll have to think on it and maybe figure out something better. No matter what I use, bird netting will catch on it. Guaranteed. And clothespins used to hold it in place will too. Need to raise your blood pressure? Just open a package of bird netting.

    

    The birds taught me not to leave loose netting around the edges of the berry cages because inevitably one will get caught and not survive if we don't see it to release it. So, I spend a couple of hours “sewing” the sides down with string (and unsewing when I take them down). Also, they can find the smallest opening they'll fit into - and within minutes of putting the netting up. Truly amazing.
     We have to take the netting down at the end of the season since we learned the hard way that snow and ice will pull anything down left up in the winter – even when we tried using chicken wire as the “roof” for the blueberry cage. Ice even pulled the clothesline post right out of the cement base once!

     

Elmer Fudd's "wabbits" visit here too

What the birds don't go after, something else will. Our garden, about 1/3 of an acre, is fenced against deer and has worked pretty well. No sooner had I got that up years ago and was feeling pretty smug, the rabbits taught me that they could get in – no problem. Rats. So, I put a much shorter chicken-wire fence around the perimeter. It helped for a while, but they learned how to jump above it (I swear it's a new Olympic sport) – or where there are depressions under the fence. So, Don puts wire on much of what he plants, especially the starts, to keep the bunnies and the birds away. Works fine, but then there are the slugs, symphylans, grasshoppers, flea beetles, aphids, bean beetles... It's an unending education.  And the garden is anything but aesthetic.

Young runner beans will soon consume the trellis

   

The deer leave most of the flower garden in front of the house alone because they've taught me what they don't care for. However, they do love the runner beans we plant on our front porch to create "walls" of shade, so those get netted too (sigh). But it works! The hummingbirds and butterflies can still get to the beautiful red flowers when they blossom.




  

The only fence the hops need is one to climb, and this isn't tall enough, but they make do. The lavender in front is buzzing with bees all day long. Soon, they'll move to the hop flowers. Lavender and hops are both used to make you relax - no wonder the bees like to sleep here!





 The hop vines are so rambunctious they're starting to take over one of the wren boxes. Maybe it will help deter the bully blue jays...

The garden is a great place to sit and meditate - if only there were time, and not so many critters to out-fox!

To Market, To Market - Again

     Shadowing Tom Denison at the Beaverton Farmers' Market in early May was such an energizing experience that I told him if he's ever desperate for a helper, let me know. Well, he was pretty desperate last week, having run through his list of eight subs with no luck. So he e-mailed me. Once again, I set the alarm for 2:20 a.m. and we left his farm by 3:45 a.m. in a fully packed truck. Just before leaving he opened the back to add one small cooler but there was no room.

     

Tom, Phillip and Joey setting up the display

As before, it was an inspiring, if exhausting, experience and renewed my appreciation for farmers' market vendors, their crews, and the workers in the fields who plant, nurture, harvest and fill those hefty tubs of gorgeous produce.

      One of the best parts of both market experiences was the trip up and back, about 3 hours all told, during which I could pepper Tom with myriad questions without interruption (an interviewer's dream!). His responses not only illustrated his passion for his work, but the complicated web of food production we rarely see or think about.The key word is "web."

      We've all seen those illustrations where a deep “slice” of earth reveals all of the levels of soil, sand,

rocks, insects, snakes, worms, rodents, water pockets, roots of grass and plants we see above the soil – you get the picture. Well, as Tom described the various aspects of farming, from the compost, cover crops, soil

Ready for the signs to be created

tests, fertilizer types and application methods, water sources, irrigation, weather, seeding, transplanting, predators (insects above and below the soil, birds, voles, gophers, etc), potential for molds, mildew, and crop failure for mysterious reasons, I realized how many life sciences and how much chemistry are involved and the countless decisions that must be made daily - even hourly - when  you work with perishable crops, human beings and fluctuating markets. And that's just getting the foods in and out of the ground! Once harvested, it needs to be cleaned, trimmed, sorted, prepared for various markets in boxes, totes or bags, depending on destination and storage requirements.

     Then there's the whole matter of working with crews, records (employee, payroll, certification, crop rotations, orders, etc.), scheduling people and deliveries, fulfilling orders, answering—or getting answers to—questions, researching everything from seeds and plant stock to whatever is necessary to keep them healthy until harvest, equipment, supplies, regulations, and on and on. Whew!

      And we all show up at the farmers' market, a somewhat festive atmosphere, in our “Saturday moods,”  assuming it's just as much fun for the vendor. We give nary a thought to the hours required to harvest and prep the produce, getting the stall set up (a good 1 1/2 hrs. of heavy lifting, decisions, arranging, sign-making, etc.), cashiering and restocking for 4 to 5 hours during the market, then the take-down, repacking, cleaning up your space and going home to unload, deal with the money, pay the crew, refuel the truck,wash display cloths and aprons, fix, replace or refill whatever needs it, respond to that list of questions accrued during the day and, hopefully, remember what your name is at the end of it. 

     Tom's wife, Elizabeth Kerle, organizes the crews for several markets, does at least one market a week herself, often two, manages 300 CSAs boxes and customers, the website newsletter, and, like Tom, needs to know what each farmers' market will expect to sell. Unfortunately, it allows little time for her acupuncture practice though I'll bet she sees plenty of need for it just on the farm.

A "canyon" of beautiful berries. An excessively hot day could turn them into 'solar jam'.

 Sizzling Temperatures
   This weekend, as the heat swells to triple-digits in our second heatwave (just in June), my thoughts are with the field crews getting all that produce picked and prepped in the heat for several markets (and other customers), and the market crews keeping it fresh for us. Such extreme temperatures require a whole 'nother level of worry over plant protection, watering, harvest impact and employee safety.

      We, of course, have the choice of whether or not to venture out in the heat to buy it. Whether we do or not, a lot of people have worked hard to be sure it's there and lookin' good, just in case we do.

      Food is ready to harvest when it's ready to harvest. If we truly support local foods, we need to be extra supportive during weather extremes. If the produce doesn't sell, especially the easily perishable foods, it will go to gleaners or soup kitchens that will move quickly to use it immediately. Or, it will be composted. Compost is a good thing, but think of all the resources that went in to producing the food in the first place.

      Cool thoughts to all you farmers, farm workers and farmers' market vendors in this exceptionally hot summer!

Community Garden and Produce Update

      I was at the Calvin Community Garden by about 6:30 this morning. What a delicious time to be in such a lush and beautiful place – and I had it all to myself. Well, except for the birds out for breakfast.

I saw one snatch a flying bug mid air!  Of course there were bazillions of unseen critter crawling or slithering amongst the greenery - slugs, spiders, cucumber beetles, worms and only an entomologist would know what else.
     Speaking of slugs: I mentioned in a previous post that they always fall for (into) beer traps. Some of us, though, noticed the beer was gone but no slugs. A neighboring gardener figured it out when she saw the neighborhood cat slurping it up!

Wall-o'-waters about to go

      It was time to take the wall-'-waters off my eggplants and mulch the potatoes some more. The weather seems to have settled into warm enough nights that they'll do fine. Mine have been "babied" with the water walls (which soak up heat from the sun during the day, maintaining a little greenhouse at night with the warmth).

   But first, I wandered through the garden to admire plant progress and the ingenious contraptions people have erected to support the more exuberant ones, or climbers. I was struck by how many tomato cages are represented: round, square, octagonal, mostly out of wire, but some wooden ones too.

 

       These are great - they can be folded flat at the end of the season for much more efficient storage.  Clever!      
                                                       

These wooden ones look like they've got years of experience!

                              

      I'd never seen octagonal tomato trellises until this morning. They look super sturdy. This gardener will have several wheelbarrows full of tomatoes and peppers before long. Note the basil next to them - oh, the mouthwatering the dishes that will come of the mix!

             

Kathy was successful in growing cukes on this trellis last year.

    A variety of trellises for peas, beans, even cukes and squash dot the plots. Some are homemade from sticks or metal poles, others cut from metal fencing or grating. My neighbor, the Master Gardener with all the gorgeous flowers as well as produce, grew cucumbers up this trellist last year as an experiment. Worked great - the weight of the fruits pulled them downward through the holes for easy picking. She said she thinks the nasturtiums fended off the deer with their strong, peppery flavor and scent. Would love to believe it and will try them with my beans. Stay tuned...


One ambitious couple constructed a beautiful structure of three horizontal pieces of bamboo supported by bamboo posts and strung with strings for tomatoes and I'm-not-sure-what-all-else to climb. It's a work of art, though my photo doesn't do it justice. And bamboo fits so perfectly in a garden.  

Several people have artichokes – those gorgeous plants that remind me of a Broadway musical, such as Auntie Mame, with the star in some fancy dress, belting out show tunes.

We've gotten “reminders” from our beloved garden coordinator, Doug Eldon, to keep paths clear, plots weeded, water OFF when you leave, and no more forests of sunflowers. Hmmm...it's a little late for that, much to the birds' delight (come fall). I'm guilty of blocking a path (unintentionally) with potatoes that are growing out instead of up. Oops; sorry, Doug! 

     I saw some corn plants about an inch from the path. That happens easily since seeds are so tiny, it's hard to imagine how big they'll get. We'll need to elbow through that path soon enough.

      AND we forget how much food one tiny little see can produce! To look at a teeny tomato seed, you'd never think it will give you buckets and buckets of tomatoes before you know it. Same with lettuce and just about anything else you start from seed yourself. The only things that even hint at size might be squash or corn seed. Still, it's hard to imagine the wheelbarrows full of them you'll see in due time.

Speaking of wheelbarrows, my sweet gardener husband harvested one full of favas the other day, then brought them in to pull the bean pods from the stem in 3 large bunches, one after the other. Then came my job: shelling, blanching, freezing and/or cooking the beans. I leave the “jackets” on all but the biggest ones now, but it's still hours of work.




  Plus, it's only June and they're competing for

A bumper crop of strawberries  - some here with the "Berry Spoon"

my time with strawberries and a gazillion other garden tasks. I keep reminding myself how grateful we'll be come winter and can pull some “summer” from the freezer or pantry. In fact, I just gave my sis-in-law a birthday present of a jar of walnut butter from walnuts we gleaned with our neighbors from a huge, old tree a few miles from us last fall. It's the best nut butter ever. Plus a jar of rhubarb-ginger jam. You can't buy those in very many stores – and not homegrown and homemade for sure!