Hello Vegetable fans or people who like to hear about my misery..........

Things are going well. Everything is coming in like gang busters. Now to get it harvested and sold. Peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, shiso, herbs, potatoes, summer squash, corn, salad....and all of this is 2-9 differant varieties of each. Oh yeah the cauliflower too. Well talk to you soon.

51 degrees as I write this and it's July 15th. Tomatoes are finally starting to ripen but have quite a ways to go yet. Cucumbers are sizing up and I may even be able to meet a contract I have for them. Field crops overall are fine but very slow. Winter squash is just not growing. Flowering and the plants look healthy and happy but stunted. Garlic should be ready to come out by late next week. Looking to be my best year for potatoes judging from the tops. Melons are not happy and could really use some August heat. All the ducks and chickens are sold. A few guinea fowl left. All in all the meat bird "adventure" is going well. Need to run the numbers and look at making things a bit more efficient for the next go round. Next up 40 chickens and 25 Muscovy ducks. Chickens will be ready at the end of Sept. and the Ducks for the beginning of Nov., maybe hang on to them for Thanksgiving. Lawn tractor went down again last night, truck is on the fritz and needs service, and the duck enclosure gate came off in my hand...........then there is all the stuff that needs to get done around here.......ditching in particular in the greenhouses.

Well what a day yesterday. Really nice weather. Cold this morning, what a surprise! Colder tomorrow........All the meat birds are done. Need to pull pin feathers and package everything up today. Continue to hope things will finally come in. Trying to get away for a few days later this week so alot of work to get done so the farm is ahead of things a bit. Nat and Christa continue to be a huge help, especially with the meat birds yesterday.

Good Morning Agriculture fans, Sun is peaking out, day looks to hold some promise until the thunderstorms this afternoon. Summer continues to be unusually cool and wet. Yesterday was classic summer. So what do you think of the coming of the "star farmer"? Like star chef's. Grow vegetables and then publish a book and get lot's of press. I see it coming, NY Times already regularly promotes certain producers every month. Poultry is getting processed this Sunday. Need to put some time in today to get things organized and set up. Vegetables continue to make nice progress and over all look healthy. I am still really concerned about disease and fungus with all the rain we have been getting. Lot's of reports coming out from the Ag services out there warning of all this stuff. The sun yesterday really made things jump around here yesterday. Started to see a lot of color in the cherry tomatoes finally. Hope they pop this week, could use the revenue. Night feeding Asiatic chafer beetles still a problem in the older greenhouse. Well off to tour the "estate". Joe

Hi Farming fans, The sog as in soggy continues not saga although it is that as well. I will be processing (slaughtering) ducks, chicken and guinnea fowl this weekend. I will let you know how that goes. Vegetables want to ripen but just are not getting the sun they need. I am beginning to wonder if I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Portland, Oregon. So far plants are looking good considering all the cold and damp. If things all come in like I think they will, I am going to be one busy little fellow during August and September. Well have to go get ready for the Barre market and see what I have. Bye

Well Happy 4th of July weekend. It is Friday July 3rd, 58 degrees and............surprise! it's freakin raining. Great for working outdoors but the deer flies are so desperate that they are still out there in the rain. I think we are approaching something like 9 days with no sun and plenty of moisture. Incredibly the gardens look good so far. The continued lack of any kind of normal summer warmth however is keeping my plants 2-3 weeks behind. Greenhouses are loaded and things look good but the lack of sun is keeping the tomatoes from ripening. Very concerned about disease and fungus with all the ideal weather. I am convinced it is easier to grow things during the winter and am planning accordingly. Working on my winter CSA and looking forward to the winter market here in Montpelier. Just heard we will be at 43 degrees Sunday morning, then some sun. Rain again on Monday. Ugh! So off to go find some wild mint for a customer and pick the 6 cucumbers I have for her.