Tag Archives: pepper trellis

Peregrine Farm News Vol. 11 #19, 7/16/14

What’s been going on!

So I am always amazed by the speed at which some crops can grow and change.  Last week it was all we could do to get all the tomatoes picked and this week a precipitous drop off (partly due to some varieties completely dying due to the wilt).  Two weeks ago the winter squash looked vibrant, today the butternuts are beginning to die back and we will have to begin harvest of them in the next few days (I know “winter” squash in July but that is the reality in a non-New England climate).

Yesterday we were doing a bit of trellising in the peppers to make sure they were ready for any crazy weather that might come in with the cool front and they look really fabulous and then I looked that the newsletter picture from just five weeks ago when they were barely a foot tall and now they are big bushy rows with some four feet tall!  Not too many peppers to pick yet but most of the varieties have a lot of fruit set which should come in just in time for pepper roasting to begin in late August.

We had some new farmers out yesterday and as we walked around the farm we talked about how our brains always seem to be working on the next season.  We hardly have a chance to savor the crops we are harvesting at the time because we are beginning to focus on getting the next ones in the ground or keeping them happy until they start producing, like planting leeks and Brussels sprouts this week for fall or another layer of pepper trellis.  While we eat tomatoes every day right now, mentally we are already moving on but wait I haven’t even made fresh salsa yet!  That’s OK because just now I finally have all the ingredients as the first serrano peppers and a new planting of cilantro is ready to go with the red onions and select tomatoes, maybe we are not done with tomato season yet.

Picture of the Week

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Those are five foot tall posts holding the Poblanos up.

 

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Peregrine Farm News Vol. 10 #36, 11/8/13

What’s been going on!

This is absolutely one of my favorite times of the year.  The light is so clear and strong, the angles low.  The colors of the remaining leaves on the trees are mostly radiant yellows with some bronzes and the greens of the recalcitrant beeches.  Mornings in the 30’s that give one the permission to stay inside for but longer and savor the light and the coffee.  Afternoons in the 60’s, in the bright light you can still work in a T shirt.

A slow and leisurely breakdown of the pepper trellis this week, the last big job for the fall.  Last year as I was busy building Jennie’s apartment I set her out alone to take down the trellis, she was frustrated by the task.  This year we have taken our time in the favorable weather to get the job done.  Many moving parts and layers that were put in place in multiple stages, over many months, now have to be taken out in the reverse order.  Three or four layers of support wires and strings have to be pulled out and rolled up.  100 metal T-posts and the corresponding 200 plus wooden cross arms have to be pulled up and carried to the truck at the end of the field.  The irrigation lines that run down each bed coiled up and finally the tops of the plants mowed off so we can pull up the landscape fabric that covers the hot pepper beds.  Nearly done, no need to rush.

The Italian travelogue is now finished; you can read it here if you want.  No newsletter next week, I will be off to a family reunion in Mississippi.  Betsy and Jennie will be at market on the 16th as usual.  The morning after I return is turkey processing day, one we look forward to (no more daily bird management) and don’t look forward to as it is their only bad day, ever.  After that we are definitely into winter mode, firewood cutting, winter projects (a few things to finish up on the new building), maybe some blueberry pruning, plenty of time around the woodstove.

Picture of the Week

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The first rays of morning sun from my office window

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