Life on the PB&J Micro-Farm - June 1, 2012

Life on the PB&J Micro-Farm - June 1, 2012A lot has happened since our last PB&J Micro-Farm update. The vegetables in the raised bed garden have progressed quite nicely, and we have already been enjoying our own home-grown food. The first treats from the garden were radishes. They came up quickly, and matured just as fast. Soon afterward, the lettuce began to produce... BIG TIME!. We are pulling the lettuce leaves from around the outside of the plant, and they keep producing. We are having a lot of salads, and giving the excess to the bunnies and other family members. The jalapeño and various other peppers are coming in like mad. To celebrate our first pepper harvest, the children decided to have a salsa recipe contest. The kids worked and worked on their own concoctions, and Rebecca and I were the judges. I really must learn to suppress my facial expressions when tasting the food product of my chef-like children. Hey! It was GREAT! From the Three Sisters Bed, we have begun to harvest yellow squash, corn, and zucchini. There are dozens of new fruit on the plants, and they are growing to picking size quicker than we expected. Cucumbers, especially the pickling kind, are abundant, and the salad cucumbers are just starting to come of age. The string-trellis tomato vines are covered with over 100 tomatoes of various sizes that will be mature, red, and ripe for the picking within a week or so. With the radishes all harvested, we used the newly freed-up space to plant pumpkins. Hopefully, they will be ready right around mid-October. Also, I'm not sure if it was because of the unusually early heat this year or what, but we had very little success with our spinach. We harvested and ate some, but it just wasn't hardy. We pulled the last of the spinach out of the raised bed and planted purple hull peas in its place. Purple hull peas are a southern delight, and they just love heat, something of which we have plenty. The children have slowly become more an more attracted to the garden since everything is blooming and producing food. They're amazed at how fast the zucchinis and yellow squash grow (but we still can't get them to eat either). They have all participated in the planting and harvest, and one or two have helped with the weeding. It has certainly been a learning experience for all of us. Here are a few pictures of the garden. Click to zoom.