We know you've been wondering what we've been up to lately. And we like you, so we'll let you know.
Basically, we're really proud of the watermelon babes. So proud, in fact, that we plucked this big guy preemptively from the vine.
However, this craddle robbing did provide a learning opportunity when we excitedly took our babe to show off at Dining Services. Over in the DS (yes, we are abbreving everything and developing our own garden slang), John Fortini cut into our babe to show us that the tap test -- listening for a hollow sound -- is not at all indicitive of a ripened fruit. This was made clear by the very white flesh of our pride and joy; that's okay, we were made only slightly less prideful in being shown that the only way to tell a good watermelon is to cut into it. With patience, our Sunshine melons will be glowing yellow and the Sugar Babies blushing red -- hollow sounding or not! We also learned from John that cantaloupes, along with other fruits in the muskmelon family, can be judged as ripe or not by smelling their ends. When we went to Small Ones Farm for a workday, we furthered our melon-judging knowledge in learning that some types of cantaloupe will all need to be harvested within 24-hours of one another -- what a fragrant harvest!
Now for some more rando garden pics! Enjoy.
We have sunflowers! Chocolate sunflowers, to be more specific :) It was so fun to watch the switch-blade florets of these composite flowers opening up. Yay for blossoming giants.
A somewhat strange looking pepper... is it supposed to change color? We're not sure. This pepper plant was a garden donation, and none of its other fruits have turned.
Cute eggplants! And ready to be sold at the farmer's market this afternoon.
The root control bags have thwarted Team Bunnies' plans to take over the lettuce! Score one for Team Garden! Now only if we could get into the minds of Team Mouse...more on that below.
Cucumbers don't have any respect for public walkway space. Jerks.
Brittany weeds the lavendar sink garden. You know its legit when weeds pop up. Our sink gardens support life!
On Tuesday we went to volunteer at Small Ones Farm, a predominantly fruit-based farm in Amherst, MA. There, we met Sally Fitz, her husband Bob and their farm apprentice Sarah Habeck (Hampshire ’12) who told us about what they do, the unfortunate spring frost that halted apple growth in most of Western MA (98% crop failure on their farm – eek!), and then put us to work. We tended to some melons (their first time growing them as part of a contingent plan given the apple crop failure), gave part of their orchard a healthy dose of nitrogen in the form of a wood chip base cover and picked a ton of blueberries.
We also got to meet their pig Cutie Pie, their flock of chickens, and one very friendly rabbit. When Brittany asked Annie how much she thought the pig weighed, Annie responded 800lbs – Brittany’s guess of 350lbs was much more accurate and actually pretty dead-on. Fun fact: pigs love watermelons! We saw the adorableness that is their Children’s Garden for their Farm Camp where kids learn about growing crops, irrigation, being in nature and tending to animals (they were picking up mail-order chicks at the Post Office the next day!); the Children’s Garden also included a petting area full of tactile plants like Lamb’s Ears – be cuter! Oh wait, you can’t. Instead of U-Pick apples, Small Ones will be doing U-Pick pumpkins so visit in the fall to get your Halloween jack-o-lantern and see what they’ve got going on.
The corn is so big! SO big, in fact, that some of it needs to be contained by bits of string.
Annie measuring herself next to the corn. It would obviously have the taller tick mark on the door jamb at her house.
Speaking of corn...the sweet corn is reaching puberty! Luckily these guys are wind pollinated, so we won't have to worry about an awkward conversation on the birds and the bees....
(And by seeds, Annie means pollen grains.)
Oh, Havahart rodent traps... if only our hearts were big enough for you. We purchased this guy after Annie opened the door of the shed one day to see a pair of giant ears poking out from huge glossy eyes staring directly up at her. It was a mouse. The ridiculously high pitch of her scream surprised everyone (and by everyone, we mean Brittany... and some birds in a tree nearby that flew away... and hopefully some bunnies). It's a frequency not many are used to hearing.
So, instead of killing them, Tim suggested we buy a Havahart trap. The first and only animal we ever caught in this small cage was a baby mouse that died almost immediately out of sheer terror when we went in to pick up the cage. That seems to have also been the only time we were able to load the trap correctly. Now, the mice just roam around inside and make disgusting smelling beds in the water dish we left in there. Tim thinks it's sweet that we've given them a new home. Annie thinks the mice are disgustingly gross. Brittany thinks they're adorably cute and wants to nurture them, except not as pets and not in the shed.
We're about to head off to harvest for the South Hadley Farmers' Market this afternoon (which now has a Facebook page! Be sure to Like it) and we'll keep you updated on growths, captures and harvests up at the garden!
Peace, love, and veggies,
Annie and Brittany,
MHC Student Garden Interns
2 comments:
Hello my loves! (I've been called "my love" by at least 8 strangers on this trip so I figure I might as well use it here.)
1. When I worked at the fruit stand we'd check for melon ripeness by gently pressing the ends. If they were soft, it was ripe.
2. A few days ago I went to a tiny farmer's market in St. Martin on Guernsey at an old manor house with a strange kitchy statue-garden that had a huge flock of mostly ducks but chickens (and awkward-feathered teenage chicks) too! They were true free-range, wandering among the stalls and absolutely divebombing the bread people brought for them. My aunt bought black currents thinking they were blueberries; poultry don't like black currents. Ours at home love red ones though. Anyway, if I ever have a yard that's large enough to fence off the vegetables and anything I don't want destroyed or eaten, I'd love a huge flock of chickens. This was hardly related to your blog.
3. Your mouse died??? I thought you set it free near Northampton. Oh no!
4. I had a fourth thing but I've forgotten it.
I remember:
4. I am down to one hand in counting how long until I get to see this gorgeous garden for myself. In fact, I'm off to the gate now, though first I'll be flying over your heads back to CA.
Have a lovely day in the dirt.
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