Gettin' our Garlic on

We had an excellent week this week, filled with planting and harvesting and cultivating alike! Justin and Richie began post-holing for our heirloom tomato trellising in Pie Four Monday while the majority of us toiled away hoeing the weeds and grasses between the rows of tomatoes and cantaloupe. Tuesday we harvested the last of the garlic scapes and began harvesting our hardneck garlic crop! I took a bite out of a clove right in the field- delish... and spicy!! The Garlic is layed in piles in the field and the cloves covered by its own leaves to cure before sent out to market. This was truly our first big harvest and was so fun. I think I still smell like garlic a little, several showers later! Wednesday we completed the garlic harvest and moved on to our first round of snow pea harvesting. It was another beautiful day picking peas off the plants into bushel baskets at the north end of Pie Four. Thursday and Friday we had two extra long days in our auxiliary field in Greeley, back to planting, this time a twelve acre field with eggplant, tomatoes and peppers. Our hard work was rewarded at the end of the day Friday with Isaac bringing us popsicles- something was had been dreaming about in the field during the hot days. It was probably...no, definitely, the best popsicle I have ever eaten! Here are the fotos for the week:

June 11

Justin driving the auger into Pie Four to drill holes for our our heirloom tomato patch. We will trellis the heirlooms as they are
indeterminate varieties, which means they will bear their fruit at different times as it ripens over the course of the season.

June 12

Jessica rockin' her Carharts with two bunches of hardneck garlic during
our Tuesday harvest.

June 13

Richie and Kyle harvesting delicious snow peas into bushel baskets in our
Pie Four field. Check out our sweet ride that day- the psychedelic schoolbus!

June 14

Kyle in our Greeley field planting eggplant. He found this Killdeer nest
with four eggs in the middle of one of our beds. The mother bird
scolded us all morning until we were far enough down the field that she
could return to the nest safely!

June 15

A smaller crew of us at Friday Intern Family Dinner with some beautiful roasted chickens with lemon and garlic prepared by Luke and Emma! We also had an excellent salad made with garlic scapes, spinach, lettuce and green onion from our farm, and a vegetable stir fry with freshly harvested, brand new, red ace beets! A perfect end to a long hard week! From left; me, Jacob, Lucia, Elena, Emma, Luke, Greg, Jessica, Justin and Katie.

Bonus Fotos:

A bushel basket of our beautiful snow peas freshly harvested next to a pea plant.

Emma, Kyle, and Elena at the end of the day harvesting snow peas. Three peas in a pod in their tie dyes! I think they planned it.

Lucia planting a pepper down the back of Jacob's pants in our Greeley field. Couldn't resist.

We'll be spending one more day next week in Greeley finishing planting the south end of the field, and harvesting our soft neck garlic is right around the bend. The days are definitely getting warmer, and I have sported a few light sunburns in addition to all the bruises, scrapes and soreness I have collected. I have to say though, for all the minor hurts and aches, I've never been stronger, and the season is really just getting underway. I wanted to thank those of you who are following us on the blog and those who are just checking it out for the first time as well! It's become a highlight of my week to look over what we have accomplished and put together this little photo diary of our time in the fields and at the farm. Have a great upcoming week and Happy Father's Day today to all the dads! To my dad, you've set the foundation for my success in this, and all endeavors. I love you. 

XO,

Val