Peppers and eggplants

This morning after we picked eggplant and sweet and hot peppers at the south garden, we could tell school had started because of all the traffic on our way back, and our college students tell me next Monday will be their last day. Anna and Madeline will be missed as they return to Dordt. Several Dordt students who helped us last fall have texted us about their availability, and we look forward to their arrival! Becca will be with us for a while. She graduated in May and continues to look for full-time work in her area of interest (English major, creative writing) in Sioux County. Jessica will be backing out slowly as she begins teaching piano, violin, and cello nearly full time day after Labor Day.

It’s been nice to have sunshine; hopefully the peppers, tomatoes, and other crops finish with a big push. We pulled red onions to dry yesterday and will try to get the copra or yellow storage onions out before the next shower. I’d like to get that garden seeded to buckwheat for a cover crop. Then it will be covered and green till the first hard frost, choking out weeds, building organic matter and adding nutrients. Unlike rye which I used last fall, buckwheat frost kills, so the garden will be available right away in the spring.

When time allows we work on the new greenhouse. We are excited about adding this to the farm to help us raise better plants in the spring. Thank you to all who signed up for the fall share. We did some for seeding last night to replace beets that got washed out with the 4 inch rain two weeks ago. When it has rained this summer it has rained hard and been damaging. The fall share is SOLD OUT!

This Saturday, Janna and I will be bringing our youngest to college in Michigan and then we will visit my parents in Ontario. We will be gone for a while. Jessica will check our email and you can also reach her via our Facebook page if you need to contact us. Have a great week!

–John Wesselius