Posted By FarmerJ on July 11, 2010

Have you ever misunderstood someone while speaking to them on a cell phone?  Darling Husbie’s and my telephone conversations generally occur over our cell phones, so we’ve gotten pretty good at interpreting what the other has said.  However, there are still some occasions when things get misinterpreted ~ hence the title of this post.

The other day, Darling Husbie was on his way back from Lincoln and decided to call for the daily SITREP to help pass the time.  I immediately launched into my report [in full detail, mind you, because I wasn't working on a secret project], telling him about my day in the garden.  I told him of all the grass and broad leaves I’d taken pleasure in killing, and then I told him I’d completed our first harvest of the season.  “I picked two okra and some sweet peas,” is what I said.  What he heard was, “I picked two okra and three peas.”  He laughed, finding it comical I was so excited over such a minuscule bounty.  “Two okra and three peas…that’s good, Baby,” he managed to get out between chuckles.  No, no, no!  “Not three peas, sweet peas!  A bunch of sweet peas, Lovie.”  Almost a pound of each variety.  Anyway, we got through that and had another laugh about it when he got home to actually inspect the goods.  We thought it funny having 12,000 square feet of gardening space and only harvesting a fistful.  It’s been a challenging year for gardening with some crazy weather ~ but hopefully not that bad!

I’ve been informed that my menu posts are beyond ultimately boring, and that I needed to post some photos of the garden.  I have had every intention of updating ya’ll on our progress, but after spending six to eight hours out there on my hands and knees, the only thing I want to do is take a cold shower and veg!  [Ha!  I made a pun.  teehee!]  We’ve been working hard to combat the weeds, so I’ve been hitting it pretty early each morning.  But, we got some rain early this morning and it’s still too wet to be tromping and crawling around, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to give you a quick update.

Now, you’ve heard us talk about the amazing phenomenon of this chocolate angel food dirt and the effect it has on plants.  There comes a time when the plants seem to really take hold and then really take off ~ well, after struggling through some pretty rough elements for a little over a month, that time has finally come.  We can literally watch the plants grow throughout the day.  I took these photos one week ago today.  The transformation between then and now has been incredible.  I’d take new photos this morning, but don’t want to traipse through the mud.

Here, you can see what we refer to as the west plot, and part of the east plot, which we are referring to this year as the pumpkin patch.  This is looking north, and at the far end you can see the sweet corn plot.  The west and east plots are each 40′ x 150′, making them 6,000 sf each.  The sweet corn plot is shaped like a strange trapezoid and is approximately 7,000 sf.

Here’s the view to the south taken while standing approximately in the middle of the west plot.  You can just barely see the corner of the pumpkin patch ~ and, no [thank heaven!], that stand of corn is not ours!  Well, it would be nice if it was ours, but not to harvest by hand.  That’s field corn, and it is the south property boundary.  You may notice a gap in the line of pepper plants.  Son #2 was graciously helping me with the weeding, and we suffered a few fatalities…both in the line of peppers and the okra.  Whoops!

This is a shot of the south end of the pumpkin patch ~ you can also see a line of cowpeas in the foreground, which is in the west plot.  These are the squash and cucumber plants.  Darling Husbie did some massive weed control with the 3-point tiller and then rolled out some alfalfa for mulch.  The transformation in these plants over the past week has been incredible.  You wouldn’t recognize them as the same plants, as they have at least tripled in size.  The day Husbie mulched, there was a plant that had a teeny pickling cucumber less than an inch.  Three days later, Husbie picked that same cucumber and it was four inches long and fat as could be!  It’s that angel food dirt phenomenon thing.

Here’s four of the six pumpkin plants.  They have experienced the same growth spurt.  They have tripled, or even quadrupled in size, and now have flowers the size of dinner plates [just within the last two days, so Darling Husbie hasn't even seen those!]  Husbie enjoys growing the pumpkins because we invite all the little ones who belong to our fellow soldiers out to the Farmstead to pick their very own pumpkin for harvest season.  It’s beyond adorable to watch them wander through the patch, seeking just the perfect pumpkin, and the excitement on their face as their daddy carries it to their vehicle.

This is a glamor shot of one of the two infamous okra!  We find it somewhat comical these spindly little plants are producing anything worth harvesting.  Last year, the okra plants were the size of trees before they started putting on any pods.  But, like the squash and pumpkins, they have taken hold and are really starting to look like viable plants.

A couple of the jalapeno plants among those surviving the weeding exercise.  They are starting to produce at a prolific rate ~ which is good, because I’m in dire need of some more of that incredible Jalapeno Jelly!  These two plants were actually purchased from the local nursery to replace those I’d started from seed and got promptly pounded with torrential rain and hail as soon as I’d planted them.

Is this not the goofiest eggplant you’ve ever seen?!  The name of this variety escapes me right now, but they are the craziest things!  Instead of producing the traditional big, purple eggplant you find in the stores, these produce little white tubes.  You pick them when they are about four inches long.  We harvested our first batch the other night.  I was making some fried okra and decided I’d try my hand at making these the same way.  I sliced them like fries, battered them up and deep fried them until they were a light golden brown and crispy.  Served them up with Ranch dip ~ yummmm!  I picked eight more yesterday, and we have one yellow zucchini, so I know what my dinner is going to be this evening!

This is a mystery squash.  It’s one of many volunteer plants that have come up from last year’s leftovers.  And, of course, it has grown exponentially over the past week.  The blossom you see here is now…something.  We’ve been watching it daily.  At first, we thought it was perhaps a zucchini.  However, because of the leaves, we’ve decided it is not a zucchini plant but instead a squash plant.  A Yellow Crookneck, specifically.  But, as the ‘something’ continued to grow, I began having my doubts about it being a Yellow Crookneck.  It wasn’t yellow, and it didn’t have a crook in its neck.  Yesterday morning, I was beginning to wonder if perhaps it may be a Boston Marrow.  I had discussed it with Darling Husbie during one of the SITREPs, and he, too, thought it may be a Boston Marrow.  However!  Since we can literally watch the plants grow throughout the day, I kept my eye on it while I was out there battling weeds yesterday.  By the time evening approached, I was swaying back to thinking it is a Yellow Crookneck after all.  The ‘something’ is starting to turn what appears to be yellow ~ now that the weeds are gone from it and the sun can do its thing.  I don’t know!  It’s still a mystery, but you can bet I’ll have my eye on it again today.  I’ll let you know as soon as we know!

Finally, this is just one of several marigolds I have planted throughout the plot.  This particular variety is a Scarlet Starlet.  If you haven’t been clicking on the photos to enlarge them, click on this one.  I took this photo in the morning just after a rain ~ the water pooled on the petals looks pretty neat!

Well, that’s it for now.  It looks like the water has soaked in enough I can at least get out there ~ time to ruin the lives of a gazillion more weeds.  I’m trying like mad to get the weeds under control, because within the next couple of days the first round of sweet corn will be ready for picking!  Darling Husbie picked an ear Thursday and it wasn’t quite ready.  It still tasted a little ‘green.’  I picked an ear yesterday, two days later, and it’s oh-so-close.  I stood out there by the plot and nibbled every kernel down to the cob.  Raw.  It’s just that good.  We’re guessing with the shot of water they got again last night and this morning, followed by sunshine and the 86% humidity we’re having, we’ll be picking in the next couple of days!

Don’t forget ~ you can check out the Farmstead Bobble Head now and then.  You may catch a glimpse of Abigail, the Toy Fox Terrorist, tormenting the toads while I wreak havoc on the weeds.  ♥

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