We are enjoying the nice temperatures and the slow end of the fresh fruit season at the Cloverleaf. The last week has been a little rough for me as I’ve been in and out of various medical issues (allergy attack, late night emergency room, bouts of nausea). Being sick makes me appreciate two things though: the farm and my farm partners!
I love seeing the vigorous nature of plants – especially our self-seeded tomatoes and peppers. Somehow those plants seem to outgrow the ones we planted on purpose! This week you have a mixed basket of hot peppers that are hybridized from last year’s jalapenos, thai chilis, shishitos and gypsies. Each pepper plant is different but delicious! Some are fairly mild but some are super spicy.
Our tomato plants are doing well too — after we switched to a different kind of drip line, they are doing much better. This week we have over 14 different kinds of tomatoes: Cherokee purple, Eva purple ball, brandywine, striped german, striped cavern (the short red and yellow striped tomatoes), emerald evergreen, amana orange, shah, indigo rose (the black ones), blush cherry, sungolds, sweet 100s, black cherry and of course, Torbert tomatoes (the small red ones)! That’s the tomato variety that my granddad bred and is doing really well. Sadly, he died this spring but his tomato variety lives on!
My farm partners have been awesome this week, coming in with last minute notice to handle our fruit sorting and letting me hang low in the farmstand this weekend. Farmers often don’t have a safety net for when they get sick – my friend, Rory, had to quit her previous farm when she got mono. If we were farming full-time it would be even worse to get sick (as I’ve yet to work on a farm that offers health insurance). Rory was very influential in convincing me to start farming slowly and do it part-time. For the Cloverleaf, it really makes all the difference that the four of us can watch each other’s backs – thanks guys! – Emma