Week 17

Today's box doesn't come close to fitting IN the box. Yum.

Today's list.

The zinnias are enjoying this weather. 

Blooming their heads off.

4 rows of beautiful flowers next to the tall blueberry row on the left.

Here is the salmon colored cactus variety of zinnia. They are waist high.

Lisa's hand gives you an indication of how large these flowers are.

Bright orange cactus flowered zinnias.

A few pure red zinnias. We love these, too.

A close up.

This red one is taller than most. Majestic.

Maybe one of each variety and color stands out among the crowd. 

Soft pink cactus zinnias. One tall one here, too.

The view looking north. Tall blueberries to the left (west), then zinnias, melons, cucumbers and zucchini next to the cart path. The marigolds indicate a change of variety and bring in beneficial insects. The white pvc pipe takes water to each row helping with sustainability. The field is all watered with drip irrigation. We also are able to fertilize through this system.

Dahlias before Lisa gets to them today!

More of the dahlias before she picks today.

Cafe Au Lait dahlia in majestic bloom.

I think this one is called Totally Tangerine.

A striped and speckled dahlia.

One of my favorites. The tips of the petals are twisted and each flower has different markings. Unique.

Another view.

Florencio has harvested and washed the beets for today.

Brussels Sprouts are trimmed up and awaiting pickup. Roasted Brussels Sprouts are wonderful.

Carrots for today. So crisp.

The morning glories have totally covered the lime green trellis on the wall.

The yellow nasturtium are trailing over the edge of the raised bed. All parts of the nasturtium are edible. They look good in a salad.

Anna's lunch today includes soup, a spicy soup with apples and onions. Sooooo delicious.

Toasted veggies. Sure brings out their flavors.

Baba ganoush is like an eggplant humus. Very good.

Spiced apple cake with a delicious frosting. 

Additions to the soup. Add as much as you like? Okay!

A second harvest of lavender. Oh the smells today!

Chives are bundled and ready to go in the boxes. Chives may be chopped and frozen for later use.

And the good smells continue. Rosemary ready to be bundled.

Today's extra summer squash.

Sweet, tasty, crunchy peppers. Wonderful for snacking.

One of our 31 varieties of tomatoes. 

Jalapeno peppers. They start out green, then change to black, then move on to red. According to Florencio the ones with cracks are hotter. He keeps trying to get me to try them while out in the garden. :)

Hungarian Wax peppers start out yellow, change to orange and if left alone will turn red as they mature. Chile peppers also start out green and mature to red.

Sugar pie pumpkins on the left. Delicata (one of my favorite winter squash) are striped and store very well. Decorative white pumpkins are uniform in size.

The lavender is parceled out and is being bundled. 

One of Lisa's lovely bouquets. The eucalyptus we grew from seed. It lives in the greenhouse as it loves heat.

Lovely coral and yellow zinnias mixed with midnight blue statice.

Blue salvia spires mixed in with blue echinops globes and boxwood greenery. Zinnia in a variety of colors sets it all off.

Cafe Au Lait dahlias, pink zinnias, drooping pink Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate and boxwood are showy together.

A bucket full of zinnias await selection.

Queen Lime zinnias.

Help of all sizes organize the cart. 

Aren't they cute? He is such a happy baby.

Sometimes he even smiles at me :)

The list of items that didn't fit in the box. 

Curls on the stem are extra decorations.

Some "handles" on the pumpkins are hard to hang on to. This variety has deep grooves in its flesh.

This pumpkin has some scarring. If you grow pumpkins, you can intentionally "wound" them and they will scar over. You could "write" your child's name on one! 

Week 16

Yellow dahlias before the morning sun hits them.

Lisa and her trusty sidekick, Cody, in flower picking mode.

These dahlias have a flatter profile than most regular dahlias.

Some of our dahlias grow tall.

Some have variegated petals.

Some are pale toward the center and darker toward the outside.

All are pretty.

These seem to want to catch the sun.

Dark pom pom dahlias.

Two different type of bees in search of pollen.

A large bee hanging on the center of this dahlia.

Earlier in the summer Lisa painted a narrow pallet lime green, placed it on this wall and then planted these climbing morning glory plants. They have hidden it! 

This is how they twin and climb. Also the bright pink one has opened this morning, the lighter one to the left is still curled up and will unfurl in little later today.



If you don't want to look at a garden spider in a jar. Don't look at this next picture too closely.

A friendly garden spider found here on the farm. They catch all sorts of other critters in their webs. Sometimes they catch some ahead of time and wind them up in their silk to snack on later.

This week members of Chemeketa Community College men's soccer team volunteered to help harvest. After they picked cherry tomatoes (timed at a quicker pace than last week's helpers) they helped harvest pie pumpkins. We used the a "bucket brigade" version to get pumpkins to the cart at the end of the row.

Good form to get the produce gently to the next person and on down the line.

Here they are posing for their group photo. Notice they kept the stems on the pumpkins as requested!

Bryan and Grams sorting today's large tomato varieties. The cherry tomatoes were all harvested by the Chemeketa men's soccer group. Thanks!


It was a busy day of picking, alas not many photos.
See you next time on the blog.
Lorrie