Attack of the Giant Celery

25 Sep Attack of the Giant Celery

The excitement for harvesting the gigantic celery was high until we realized how difficult it would be to get them out of the ground- a machete would have been better suited than the standard harvest knives. A simple change to our planting plan back in July from 3 rows, 12″ spacing to 2 rows, 18″ spacing resulted in a massive celery harvest this week (the addition of our nourishing compost probably didn’t hurt either). 

Farmer Tom and washer extraordinaire Jackie with enough celery for a village.

The weather and this week’s harvest reflect the passing of the Autumnal Equinox- beets, broccoli, kabocha squash, potatoes and celery. This scarlet color variety of kabocha is called Sunshine. It has a sweet, bright orange flesh that is wonderful baked. We also grow a dark green and a bluish gray kabocha type squash.

9/25/14, share #17

The rain today was much needed- we’ve had suprisingly few rain days of late. Wednesday was a scramble to get work done before the wet weather came. Priority number one was harvesting my experimental popcorn crop. It was a beautiful scene as the sun was setting- it felt very ancient, and a perfect way to mark the change of seasons. The stalks were bone dry so we husked them in the field- opening each wrapper was like unveiling precious multi-colored jewels.

Join us at the harvest festival Sunday, October 12th at 3pm- we’ll be popping the corn, and offering various dry herb and vegetable blends as toppings. And not to let any part of the plant go wasted, corn husk doll making will also be a craft on hand.

It was with bittersweet emotions that we cleaned out the greenhouses of all the heirloom tomato plants. It was the close of a long chapter that began in the early spring with grafting, and followed with many months of irrigating, fertilizing, trellising, and harvesting the thousands of pounds of fruit multiple times a week. It is time to turn the page and prepare for the winter ahead. Next up: kale.

Walking the farm in the evening, it is beautiful to see the fields begin to take a breather after a productive season. The various shades of green cover crops casts a fuzzy shadow over the barren fields. From sudan grass to barley, sweet clover and crimson clover, to oats and peas, we sow a number of different mixes all for different purposes.

I couldn’t let this blog post go without a happy 1st birthday to Luna, our farm dog. She is a daily reminder to play more, stress less, and by all means, live a little more in the moment.

Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner. Tricia and her husband Tom have been growing together since 1996 and farming together since 2000. They started Blooming Glen Farm in 2006. Tricia is passionate about food, community, art and nature and the intersection of all four.