Sunflowers against a beautiful blue sky!
Was anybody else SO excited for rain this weekend? Our kids were!
Oh, September. How we welcome you with open arms. So many seasons on this farm are wonderful and to be cherished. And, come spring, I welcome the arrival of the growing season with great enthusiasm. But, September. This month holds an extra special spot in our hearts. Whereas those early spring days bring so much hope and anticipation, September brings so much satisfaction for work well done. To be clear, there is still tons of work left to do, but it is the closing up shop types of things: harvesting (so much!), sowing cover crops, disking in old plantings. Satisfying stuff.
Plus, September so often brings some of the best weather of the whole year. So, welcome to September, dear month!
Today, lots of photos for you. It’s just that kind of a week. The fields are look oh so lovely; the kids are cute; let’s just look at pictures together, shall we? Let’s begin!
Rusty's interest in our work has grown more than ever this year. Perhaps having his own garden helps. This weekend, he began harvesting his pumpkins. There are over 50, so this may take a while.
Casey helped Rusty bring the pumpkins up the hill to our house.
After bringing all sorts of goodies home from a field walk, Rusty took on the task of arranging our "nature table," which had been pretty bare lately (I guess we've just spending a lot of time outside!). I brought in the sunflowers; the rest of this is Rusty's doing.
I hear that "colony collapse" is a real thing — multitudes of bee hives just dying over the winter. But, I'll tell you what: on our farm right now, buzzing insects rule the air. Everywhere we look and walk, we are surrounded by honey bees, bumblebees, and yellow jackets (Casey and I both unfortunately got stung last week by yellow jackets -- OUCH!). Other pollinators are about too -- the lavender outside our dining room window has been visited by lots of butterflies lately!
Rusty's namesake plant, the beautiful Brussels sprout (if you don't know, Rusty's full name is Russell Sprout Kulla). A good planting of Brussels sprouts going into fall just makes my heart sing -- both for its beauty and for the promise of all those delicious morsels to be eaten on chilly days!
Another sight to warm the heart: rows and rows of beautifully trellised and perfectly weeded sweet pepper plants. Autumn is their season to shine, bringing summer flavors into our fall foods!
Digging fork + onions = sexy vegetable photo.
Another fall food preview (can you tell I'm excited about the turning of the season coming soon?).
This one should excite a lot of you!
Hey, look! It's me! End of summer tan, dirty feet (if I took off those sandals, there would be white lines on the tops of my feet!). Someday I'll have someone else take a photo so I'm less invisible.
The field corn is SO tall!!!!
So, there’s your little virtual tour of the farm right now. This next week brings more fun — I will be attending Bounty of the County this weekend. We’ll keep harvesting (have I mentioned that we harvest this time of year?), including beginning in on our big storage crops of potatoes and such. We’re caring for our little calf (now named August), who is thriving. We’ll also celebrate Dottie’s second birthday on Thursday! Our little sweetheart is almost two! What joy she has brought to our farm and family these last two years. Ah, life on the farm chugs along!
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Broccoli!
- Plums — Thess sweet tasty morsels are called “Imperial Epineuse,” a French variety of prune plums. What they lack in size, they more than make up for in flavor and sweetness. These are one of the most flavorful fruits we grow! Enjoy!
- Green & sweet peppers
- Tomatoes
- Beets!
- Cucumbers
- Summer squash & zucchini
- Potatoes
- Garlic & onions
