cold summer & fall, slow business

It's been one of the toughest summers we've had in a long time. Just way to cold, lots of things not producing well. Very little summer squash, cucumbers and tomatoes are just finally starting to ripen, almost 2 months of lost sales late.

It has been a good watermelon and sweet corn year though. Some of the biggest cobs we've seen in decades. The grapes are doing well also. Although it won't come out ahead at least something is doing well.

The weird part is how slow the traffic is. I'd guess there's 20% less tires on the road just in front of our stand. And people coming in are spending less too.

Despite it all, there's still nothing I'd rather do. Keep on keepin' on.

the day before

Another fairly cool day. Still few tomatoes. Fragments of thought skittering around in everyone's head at the stand it seemed. Dad and I couldn't do math and our customers were behaving stranger than unusual. A lovely day, all-in-all. Be well.

Tuesday overcast

Nice cool morning. Lots of melons to pick today. Still waiting on the 'maters. Have a good'n.

Rockin' day at the stand

Had one of those top ten awesome closing hours. Was selling watermelon like crazy! All the people coming by were in a super mood, very happy with what they were buying and full of energy. Probably the cool weather and beautiful skies.

Speaking of skies, on the way home there was a huge, glorious rainbow circle broken by bands of virga hanging above our driveway. It made me feel so glad to have been on this earth long enough to see such a thing and to know enough to appreciate its beauty and rareness.

Intending to you that life gives you a moment to love the beauty and wonder surrounding you.

Stormy turnings

Want to apologies to any of my late day customers. Had to dive out early because of this big ugly storm that is blowing by. Some pretty gnarly rain and lightning drove me off to take care of jobs that had to be taken care of before being outside became too dangerous, slippery and wet.

Anyways, if the "H" stuff doesn't pound my crops and the rain doesn't split too many tomatoes and melons we'll be back in good stock during the next couple days. Thanks for your patience and keep up the good spirits.

Pizza & Root Beer

Wow! Almost a whole week since my last post. Been real busy picking corn and melons. Today was a slow day at the stand, too short on tomatoes. The cold spring and early summer has really cut into productivity.

Pizza & Root Beer for dinner, gonna crash early in hopes of having some energy for tasks tomorrow morning.

Wishing you happiness and comfort.

A lovely Sunday morn

Finally got a couple hours of good sleep this morning. Funny how much better everything is when you're not exhausted.

Our little dog, Sparky, got sick 2 days ago, throwing up blood no less. So we ran him to the vet who said he might have cut his insides on some grass he ate & we left him there overnight. He seems fine now but we're still touchy about him and have to struggle with a different routine for another day or two until we're sure he's ok. Plus we've got to give him antibiotics and another medicine for a couple weeks.

Corn harvest begins Monday so that'll be another routine change. Kinda weird after the long pre-harvest season it seems like starting this is actually winding down when actually we've still got a lot of picking ahead of us.

Wishing you all a day with small wonders and large joys.

slow day but tiring

Had a decent Saturday. Not terrible busy at the stand. Got our puppy back from the vet, (thanks for looking out for him, Ellen.) he's a bit subdued but we're all happier now, he had us so worried. Now for a little actual weekend relaxation. Everybody be well & happy.

TGIF business

Just about to head out to open up the stand. Way too little sleep last night. Cukes, squash, onions, taters, tomatoes and golden sweet melons all on deck this morning. Happy TGIF.

Weekend shadow

Preparing myself mentally for another couple days of being open this weekend. Corn will begin harvest Monday or so, 90% likelihood. We've harvested the first few golden sweet asian melons so those should be on base for this weekend.

Hope life is bringing you all many wonderful moments.

business Saturday

Taking a short break after picking squash and cukes. Dad & Todd picked tomatoes. Heading to the stand shortly, gotta be open before 10. Happy Saturday everybody!

Ooops

Wanna apologize to any friends or customers who stopped by after this weekend. I had meant to mention on my previous post that we were just going to be open on the weekends. I can only claim industrial scale fatigue as my conditional explanation. Thanks for everybody's patience, we're loadin' up with tomatoes so we'll have plenty on Friday. I've also noticed that several of the golden sweet melons have started to shade towards a honey-chiffon color soon to roll over into that sweet golden glow, we'll see if any are ready by then.

Keep on noticin' life's little miracles.

Scramble

Suddenly getting ready to open tomorrow, too many squash, cukes and onions coming in. Even some nice tomatoes ready. So it's a real scramble to get everything done.

Kinda wacky.

Found this article about flash mobs performing useful work. Seems like a great idea to me, we've been trying to get people from the "u-pick" movement to take up a "u-weed" alternative but so far no takers. Isn't that strange?

Summer slog

had an ok day. Too hot. Motor on one greenhouse fan croaked, Bro's fixin' that. Dad's chemo took him out of the picture around 11am. Just got real weak and tired pretty much like usual. I managed to keep pluggin' and even catch a nap this afternoon. Now signing off with my typical bout of summer insomnia. Happy TGIF all.

first melons!

Got some nice piel de sapo and golden sweet melons sizing up already in the cantaloupe patch. Also some mickey lee watermelons bigger than golf balls already. Been very, very busy getting the first planting laid by, now just water, fertilizer and weed control to eat up most of our time. The chemo has been making dad pretty tired and weak but he still hoofs it out and does some work each day, what a tough ol' dude!

Hope life is serving up the lemonade already made and not too many rough patches.

Happy Birthday, America!

May all my fellow Americans have a liberty laden Independence Day.

Soil surfing.

Started picking okra. First flush tomatoes are passing the size of hardballs, 6-8 ounces mostly. Plant corn and cultivate corn tomorrow (long dusty day that). Also fertilize and water as needed, pick cukes and hand pollinate summer squash in the greenhouse. Forgot to tell you guys about the hours of soil surfing yesterday. You'da loved it. A bit dangerous though.

Blessings and wonderments.

It is hot out there

Just unstacked/restacked 2 pallets of fertilizer with dad and it liked to make me a bit grumpy sweatin' that much. Ran weed control all morning thru noon with help from Todd and Robin. We're kickin' it now until things cool a bit and after we have Todd's birthday dinner. Hope the world is treating all my peoples well.

tired out after a long day of babying cabbage and committing wholesale bloody (well, sappy I suppose) mayhem upon acres of defenseless weeds. Gotta at least try to rest, getting up early to avoid the 90°+ day. Sweet dreams all.