Sunshine, Finally!

Today there was finally sun and warm(ish) weather!  What a relief, after about two weeks of rain and bone chilling days we need the sun to dry us out!  I was starting to think I was living in Portland again.

Yesterday I couldn't finish planting the peppers because there was a FROST advisory (I remind you that it is June tomorrow), but then again this is northern Minnesota.  Luckily, the peppers were all covered in AgriBon row cover and the farm, by some luck, had a low of 32.5 last night.  Whew!  Needless to say the sun and dry wind was quite the blessing today.  We are now going into planting overdrive!  Lettuce is in, green leaf, red leaf, and romaine.  Lettuce is easy to plant and grow.  We just plopped the transplant plugs into hole made by the hole punch, and off you go!  Lettuce, according to the farmer, is divided into three categories, earlier producers, mid-summer producers, and late summer producers.  The romaine they grow is an example of a late producer.  Lettuce prefers cooler, wet weather so it is usually a spring, early summer crop, but this romaine can tolerate the heat and will keep producing into early August.  The red leaf they grow is a favorite, both farmers proclaim to "not like lettuce very much", but love this red leaf!  Bob, the farm cat who is actually a female despite her name, seems to like lettuce too.  She was hanging out all day between the rows of lettuces, and kept trying to scratch her back on the tray of transplants!

Bob enjoying the sun between the lettuce transplants

I can tell that summer is truly coming, because I've been running into more creatures.  Yesterday a garter snake crept out from under the plastic covering the strawberry row.  Today, I found a toad hiding amongst the lettuce transplants.  Also, we found some Portabello mushrooms growing next to ta cucumber plant in the greenhouse the other day!  The soil in the greenhouse is part compost, some from restaurants, so it wasn't surprising.  Apparently wild portabello's grow rampantly in the US now due to an increased level of consumption.  A note on wild mushrooms:  DO NOT EAT THEM UNLESS YOU ARE 100% SURE THEY ARE EDIBLE!!!!  I checked and doubled checked to make sure they were indeed portabello, before sauteing them with butter, onions, and garlic, YUM!  Just because there is a mushroom growing in your greenhouse, doesn't mean it is going to be tasty.

Probably the most exciting creature that has arrived on the farm is......GINGER THE PUPPY!!!!

She is quickly learning the ways of the farm, no chasing the guinea foul! 

 

Let's hope this good weather holds and we can get everything planted!