Slow Down Now...



Y'all give me too much credit. *grin* I didn't GROW all those blueberries. We do have a few baby bushes, but they're at least a year or two away from production - as far as advice, keep the soil acidic and sandy, and mulch with plenty of pine needles. We were blessed to be able to buy a farm with wonderful soil (even though much of that is still in permanent pasture) but about three miles down our county road the soil transitions to sand as you enter the beginning of the NJ Pine Barrens. We pick our berries down there, at an organic blueberry/raspberry farm. The environment and soil there are perfect conditions for cranberries and blueberries, and it shows in the grape size berries we picked by the pound. I'm going out picking again Thursday, and if sales are still strong and the blueberries still ripening, may go a third time before the month is up. I'm going to make sure to put some in the freezer this time.

We had a great day at market on Saturday, though we didn't have many eggs to sell. On the table were blueberries, our spring honey, summer squash, sweet banana peppers, squash blossoms, baby chiogga beets, snow peas, snap beans (green, dragon langerie and french filet), kale, swiss chard, cut and potted herbs, mini red cabbage, and mesclun mix with nasturtiums. Next week we'll have the same, minus the honey (we're sold out), plus more eggs, royal burgundy snap beans, cukes, and maybe cherry tomatoes. I need to weed, pull cabbage, and fill that space with some more beans, squash, maybe another round of cukes. We'll see how I feel. Also need to buy some boiling onions as stand ins for onion sets for fall scallions. My market bags didn't sell last week, but we moved them to the front of the tent mid-day where they were getting a lot more attention - I'm hoping to sell a few next week.

The picture above is the new nest box E built for the hens - they seem to be getting used to it, and it's nice having higher nest boxes. I think the ones on the bottom are too small for our larger hens, so we may double the size of those by cutting out the divisions between them. I also have plans to start putting leg-bands on the hens as I see them laying so I have a record of who is the most productive (we'll be thinning out the flock in the fall), but I need to order leg-bands first.

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Posted: Mon - July 10, 2006 at 06:28 PM        

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