A rainy start to the week (it rained through the night of Sunday to Monday) saved us from the choreographed dance of field irrigation. That’s one less thing to worry about on our long to-do list this week. We suckered and staked tomatoes again this weekend, under our caterpillar tunnel and in the field. Despite a wetter season to date and our own misgivings, the tomato plants seem to be doing well. They are loaded with lots of unripened fruit and more flowers. Provided we get some serious sunshine in coming days, we may have tomatoes for you beginning next week, but we won’t (can’t) promise anything yet. This week’s line-up is ready to be harvested: the lettuces, the leafy greens (Swiss chard, collard greens and kale), fennel, zucchini, beans or snow peas, garlic scapes and cucumbers (although the latter need an extra growth spurt – O sun, sun! wherefore art thou sun?). Depending on their size, we may also include cauliflower or cabbage and herbs (basil).
This weekend also saw us welcome a visitor to the farm. Mathieu, a Westmount partner, pedalled out from – then, even more impressively, back to – Montreal. He spent a day and a half on the farm and lent a helping hand suckering tomatoes and eggplants, and harvesting pailsful of beans. In fact, he was so helpful that Claire and I found ourselves wondering why we don’t invite more of you to do the same. Consider our invitation made.