Is it cliche to talk about the weather?  I mean we’re all really tired of dealing with this weather, that’s for sure.  I don’t remember anything like it in my lifetime, and I certainly don’t have any experience to draw from for how to farm in it.  This picture is of our squash – on drip irrigation.  It’s sad state is not because it’s dry.  It’s just flat hot.  And I can’t fix that.  Everything in the field is very high maintenance right now.

Things that we are direct seeding outside are barely germinating.  Here you see we are harvesting some very happy okra, along side of a new planting of swiss chard that I’m trying to get started under some shade cloth.  Silly me.

I’m having a little better luck in the greenhouse – broccoli and cauliflower – but  they’ll be ready for transplant before too long and I can’t put winter crops in the field with 107 degree temperatures!  It’s certainly interesting and definitely unchartered territory for us.  

We are learning about native lambs quarter (wild spinach), a great summer green for sauteing or in fresh salads, and purslane, another summer green for salads or soups.  These crops seem to thrive in our Texas heat.   And in the mean time, thank goodness for okra!

My friend Daryl over at Ape99.org helped me set up a Black Soldier Fly Grub Composter in the chicken pen yesterday.  I’ve been wanting to try this forever so I was very excited to get his help, (and starter larvae!!).  We propped two 55 gallon food storage barrels in the chicken run and fed them with wood chips and ripe veggie scraps.  We covered the main opening with chicken wire to keep the hens out and placed a tray under the barrel opening to catch the self-harvesting grubs.   I’m just learning about Soldier Flies, but it appears there is no down side with these critters. The adult female fly (non-biting, non-stinging, non-disease carrying) lays her eggs near the food source where the larvae hatch and begin their voracious feeding. They reduce the food scraps by 95% in a matter of days, including meat scraps, bone, etc… When that stage of their life is complete, they quit eating and crawl out of the food source. In this application, these highly nutritious little guys will have very interested chickens waiting right outside the barrel for them! The idea is win-win-win: Compost EVEN your meat scraps, make your chickens soooo happy, and reduce the amount of purchased chicken feed. I will be documenting all this, of course, so I”ll let you know if this little experiment pans out. I just love a plan.

Regularly it seems, after planting a new area, the weeds get ahead of the baby seedlings – and us!  We then must go in on a rescue mission to save the baby plants.  Sometimes, as it was today, it can be very tedious.  The weeds grow with great vigor, loving that freshly prepared soil and the drip irrigation, and we have to be careful to identify the new plant and not pull the wrong thing.  I always feel good after these rescue missions.  It seems the new plants jump up with renewed energy, grateful for the help.  But today was a particularly pleasant chore day because I was in the field with my youngest daughter, home from college and a volunteer friend of hers.  We weeded together and passed the time visiting about… nothing in particular.  When they broke out singing, I couldn’t stop laughing.  No offense, honey – it wasn’t your singing, I promise.  It was just a fun way to pass the time weeding.   It was not an old, soulful, cotton-pickin’ song, of course; something much more modern!  And honey, I thought you did Shania Twain pretty darn well!

Edible Austin is hosting a honey-themed 5 course dinner at the farm on June 5. Come linger of a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Will Packwood, soak up the beauty of the farm, and celebrate Texas Honey. Rohan Meadery will also be on hand sampling their honey wine and sharing information about mead making.

Seat are limited so reserve your spot now. Tickets are $75/person. Proceeds go to Texas bee research.

More information at Edibleaustin.com.