Zoey Farms

This is the rain forest garden, as you enter through the wood gate. Much different from last time! (see below)

This is how the raised bed looks today. Much different from the last pic, eh?

We’ve got a variety of peppers, a few eggplant (because we never have been able to grow eggplant, so we wanted to see how they would do in this environment….results?…much better and now we wish we had planted more.), purple carrots, gold beets and bright lights chard. Quite the colorful bed, even if some of the colors will be underground.

Our conclusion so far: We love working in this bed. It’s super easy to plant and work in the dirt. Plants seem to like it better too. We observe plants planted in this dirt compared to those same plants planted directly in our ground, and these seem healthier and are growing faster. The peppers are putting on peppers much better and faster than those in the ground that were planted way before them. We definitely want all of our beds to be raised and grown in this method.

And that will take some work and planning. More on that later.

Great words to live by, said by Ferris Bueller, in the 1986 movie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The tag line, “One Man’s Struggle To Take It Easy”, is what I’m trying to do right now. So far, so good. We’ll see how I feel later, right now, I just feel like I’m on a long vacation.

This sunflower is a volunteer. I noticed it growing a while ago and instead of calling it a weed, and yanking it, I left it to grow. It’s about 7 feet tall right now and producing many flowers. I love sunflowers and always intend to plant more. Do you think I can plant some now?

Breakfast is ready!! This morning we have All Blue or (purple) Potatoes sauteed with garlic and olive oil, sprinkled with garden fresh green beans. I love the colors, and tastes, of nature.

Brandywine (in sandwich) & German Orange Strawberry

There are no words……

Two of our subscribers referred to the squash as squish last week. I’ve never heard that term used before, and I think it’s kinda cute.

Either way you say it, or whatever you call it, we grow lots! Sunday, we picked a total of 80 pounds of squash. Right now we have: Ball, Sunburst, Crookneck, Zepher and Costata Romanesco. All good, all prolific, all squish.

These are our Striped Armenian Cucumbers. They were a surprise to me, and I ordered the seed. I wasn’t expecting this type of Armenian Cucumber. I was looking for the ones we’ve grown in years past that are light green in color and more melon-like. (I did plant a few of those and we found a couple last week.)

“Striped Armenian (Painted Serpent) Unique appearance and excellent flavor. Unusual, slightly fuzzy, “S”-shaped fruits are slightly ridged with alternating dark and light green stripes. Harvest from 8-18″. Delicious and different.” From Johnny’s Seeds.

…and your lungs. I can’t help but wonder what breathing this smoke is doing to our health. I suppose there will be news stories about this later, once the smoke has gone and we’ve forgotten.

I’ve noticed a mild sore throat for myself and a lethargic demeanor to my dog, Sadie. I’m not sure if that’s because of the smoke, the heat or due to her age…she’s 13. Either way, I don’t let her out much and I think the lack of running around is making her a little stir crazy in the evenings.

And I also wonder how this affects the plants. It has to, somehow. I think they are growing slower, just an observation, or is it my impatient nature when it comes to veggies?

And last but not least, I am grateful to the firefighters who are out there battling the fires and I am sorry those closest to the fires had to experience them.

From Wikipedia: In the United States, Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. One of the most enduring myths about Independence Day is that Congress signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The myth had become so firmly established that, decades after the event and nearing the end of their lives, even the elderly Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had come to believe that they and the other delegates had signed the Declaration on the fourth. Most delegates actually signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776.

(These flowers remind me of fireworks. This is the first time the aloe vera plants have bloomed in the 7+ years we’ve had them. I’m glad I took a picture, because the deer came through and ate all the blossoms.)