Born To Grow

For now the pace of seeding has slacked off. Since the last post, some of this years flowers have been seeded; with more to come. If all goes well bunched bouquets will be available at the farm and at the markets in NYC and Philly. The main task of the past week has been getting the field cleaned up of row cover, row cover hoops, drip tape, and various other bits and pieces. The most exciting aspect of the past few days has been the growth in the baby plants. As the pictures below will show, things have been going well. There are a couple of exceptions, but excitement about the growth is running high.

If all goes well, David expects to have 14 varieties of eggplant. This includes varieties of Italian and Asian eggplants. Of the Italian varieties the one that has been quite popular is the Rosa Bianca. It's "fruits are lavender-pink with creamy white shading. Mild in flavor and rarely bitter. Well suited for all of your cooking needs, great for eggplant parmesan."Asian eggplants "have thinner skins and a more delicate flavor than American eggplants, and not as many of the seeds that tend to make eggplants bitter. They're usually more slender than American eggplants, but they vary in size and shape. They range in color from lavender to pink, green, and white." Start looking for recipes now as there will be an abundance of all the varieties.

The goal for this coming week is to have the posts for the expansion of the deer fence pounded into the ground and to then start the process of stringing the wire on the fence. There is a local farmer who has a hydraulic post pounder that was used when the original fence was put up during year one. The amount of time this saves is incredible. To dig the holes by hand would take hours upon hours. With the pounder the posts will be placed in about three or four hours. Here is a picture of the machine.


One other bit of news, Hule got her first ground hog of the season. Hule remains a vital part of the success of Z Food Farm. What a good dog.



Seeding started less than a month ago. If you look back and compare and contrast the pictures you can better appreciate how quickly plants go from seed to germination, to being quite sizable. Emerald waves of green.


The flats in the foreground in this picture are on heating mats. Some seeds require extra warmth to aid in their germination and growth. On the mats are basil, hot peppers, sweet peppers, okra, eggplant, and tomatoes.


Baby tomato plants. If all goes according to plan there will be upwards of 65 varieties! Look for fresh local tomatoes towards the end of July. There is guaranteed to be any number of tomatoes that you are going to enjoy. Start planning now to can tomatoes or to make your own tomato sauce. Hmmmm good!


Baby okra.


Baby Swiss chard


If you are interested in becoming a CSA member of Z Food Farm, spots are still available.

Support your local farmers. Support organic farms. Support small businesses. Support Bo at Eat More Kale. (If you are unfamiliar with this do a Google search and you will find a lot of info. In the next post there will be an explanation.

Happy and healthy eating to one and all.