Today brings us our first two cucumbers, first French fillet beans, first tomatilloes, and first jalepeno. The two tomatoes we picked came as damaged goods but still tasted great. The black prince tomato had nibble marks and the San marzano tomato was suffering from end blossom rot as so many seem to in the perrenial plot. Need to figure that one out.
Lots going on at the farm today. From the first alpine strawberry flower to the sprouting of the white turnips as well as the Jacob’s cattle and great northern beans it has all been good news.
We also planted a row of fava beans as an experiment and more sunflowers behind.
We harvested our first ears of corn (9!) today in celebration of Oliver’s birthday. The first ear we ate raw right on the spot. The kernals were still a little small but tasted sweet and tender. We also had beet greens, beets, and collard greens from the farm with some smokey potato salad with Applefield’s potatoes. What a fantastic dinner!
Today’s harvest: Sweet 100 Tomatoes, French beans, broccoli, soy beans, 2 zucchini, eggplant, 2 beets, 2 carrots, 9 ears corn, collards, cilantro, basil, nasturtium flowers, onion greens
Because of the Mexican Bean Beetle attack we had to harvest our first planting of Jacob’s Cattle Beans earlier than we had planned. Turned out it was probably just the right time.
We shucked them a few days after and this is what we found within the green pods. White beans with dark red splotches that look like someone has splattered paint on them. Absolutely gorgeous. We’ve since kept them in a ceramic bowl on the kitchen counter and they are drying out nicely. I hope to make baked beans in the next day or so with them.
8 foot row of Jacob’s Cattle Beans yielded about 1/2 a pound of dried beans.
Right after identifying the Mexican Bean Beetles, we were introduced to their larvae who decimated half of our Jacob Cattle Beans plants in a day.
To protect our other bean plantings, we immediately harvested all of the beans, cut off all of the plants at the root, and composted them.
This what our plants looked like before we cut them down…
More information on these pests can be found here…
Today two new beetles showed up on our beans. They look a lot like lady beetles (beneficial), however their arrival coincides to some significant leaf damage. Are they here to save the plants from some unseen threat or are they themselves the ones to blame?
According to Avant-Gardening they are most likely the culprits:
MEXICAN BEAN BEETLE
These are related to ladybugs but are not beneficial. The adults have sixteen black spots on their back and the Larvae are fat, spiny yellow grubs 1/3 inch long. Both feed on foliage, leaving plant leaves a skeleton of veins. Adults overwinter on plant leaves, in late spring or early summer lay clusters of yellow eggs on the undersides of leaves, and there can be one to four generations a year depending on different climates.
More information from North Carolina Integrated Pest Management Information.
For now, it seems we will have to settle for picking them off and destroying their eggs.
Today’s harvest theme: Salsa (with peas and french beans)
An early start not only avoids the blast of the sun, it affords beautiful views of country side. In this barn at Pilot Grove Farm live a small flock of spring lambs.
Today we planted habanero peppers (x4), broccoli (x6), marigolds (x6), basil (x4), okra seeds, maxibel french beans, millet, and epazote.
Things are looking happy at the farm. Our collards in particular are settling well into their new home.
Today we planted shallots, artichoke seedlings, jalepeno seedlings, cayenne seedlings, ancho (poblano) seedlings, tomato plants, a marigold, and Jacob’s cattle beans from Old Sturbridge Village.