summer bounty - and a farewell to will

For the last 6 weeks Will Engelman has been at Big table Farm. Will is my 16 year old nephew. Will was a great help, he worked on cutting scotch broom, moving goats, making cardboard and compost sandwiches for the "permaculture system" in the garden, suckering trees, and helping us clear out and dis mantle for re-use and recycle about 20 odd dairy panels from the old barn. He helped Brian with chopping and chipping a big old tree and tons of other projects...

Will brought a willing and open mind to the farm and I think we all grew a lot working together. Thanks Will for being "game" especially with us still being "baby farmers" and figuring out so much for the first time. (he also fattened up our dog who promptly fell in love with him)



Brian and will spent the last days he was here getting his truck road worthy : ) a bit of welding was required on the bed and gas tank but I think they got it dialed in .... and all put back together just in time for Ken to come out...





We enjoyed a whirl wind visit with Ken and then Father and son got into Will's truck and headed east - back home!! safe travels guys!!



In other news the blackberrys have been ripening in in full force. I've been out picking hoping to get a good stash for smoothies and tarts this winter : ) ...

I did learn thought during the process of picking not to leave ones colander unattended...

I was pickling blackberries while watering my fruit trees on Saturday and put down a HUGE full colander of blackberries on the ground to mark where I stopped picking along the hedge while I moved the hose...




well I was gone like 2 minutes and Mr. chief decided that colander had his name all over it!!! I was mortified about 1/2 hour of picking devoured!!! hummm that darn horse : )


he did leave a little....




The Garden is producing some pretty amazing bounty despite the early set backs ...





we recently enjoyed stuffed squash blossoms.. if you've never tried these there amazing! if you don't have a garden you can go early to your farmers market and usually find a small number of them they are fragile and you have to have them fresh but worth the care... I stuff them with ricotta and then bread them of sauté in Olive oil.. ummm : )









the lettuce, chard and broccoli's are still going strong and the cabbage is beautiful! the tomatoes are finally RIPE !!! (yes we really can ripen tomatoes in Oregon .. we are just a bit later in the season ... but watch out as soon as I get a green house JUNE tomatoes baby! : ) we have some fruit set on the eggplants FINALLY and the pumpkins look like they will give us a small crop too!!! and I'm patiently waiting on the potatoes I'm dying to dig but it's still a tiny bit too early yet... although I did dig up all my walla walla sweet onions and garlic .. it's amazing the smell of the soil when you dig up onions and garlic!!! very fun....



Here's to summer and hard work paying off!!