If I could grow just one thing I think it would be tomatoes.  It is really fun to pick each individual tomato and inspect it for its beauty.  Today I picked 100 pounds of tomatoes and there are still plenty more to come.  We have gotten very little rain so the plants are very healthy.  Some of our new varieties are starting to ripen such as the Zapotec pleated, Earl of Edgecomb, Paul Robeson and Box Car Willie.  I am always interested in our new trials to see if we can find anything we like as well as the standards, yellow and red brandywine and Cherokee purple.  So fare mule team seems to be a good little red tomato and the Zapotecs are beautifully fluted.  Come by and check out our varieties.

Our experiment with the high tunnel has really paid off.  We have beautiful Cherokee purple tomatoes and even a few red brandywines.  We picked about 50 pounds last week and are well over 100 pounds this week.  Our field tomatoes are even starting to ripen due to the recent round of warm weather.  Stop buy the farmers market or the farm and sample our delicious tomatoes.  We did finally get about .3 of an inch of rain last night which helped some, but we are going to have to start hauling water again tomorrow.  We now have squash, tomatoes and carrots.  The broccoli, cauliflower and sugar snap peas are having a hard time with the recent heat but hopefully they will recover as the temperature is only going to be in the mid 70s for the next few days.  Keep checking as we will have okra and potatoes soon.

Today the first tomato showed signs of ripening so it won’t be long.  The Cherokee purples are the first which is everyone’s favorite!  Our tomatoes really are the best, all heirloom varieties.  We have hooked many a customer with a taste at the market.  Come visit us at the farmers market in Blowing Rock or Boone or call and stop by soon.  Our sugar snaps are just coming in and they are really sweet.  I think less rain has sweetened everything.  We also have broccoli, squash, spring onions and beets.

We will be offering a CSA for next year.  The CSA provides a box of food each week to all those who join.  Watch our website for details.   We’d like to invite those who are interested to stop by and see our farm and get some of our produce to help you make your decision.  Please give us a call.

The end of May is the most hectic time of year as all of our summer crops have to be planted at that time.  Over the past several weeks we’ve finished putting in all of our tomatoes.  We have about 800 plants so we will have plenty.  I don’t know what came over me but I planted lots of Cherokee purples, remembering how much everyone loves them I guess.  We should have an early crop and late crop of them.  We also have varieties such as Dad’s sunset, wins all, box car willie, mortage lifer and druzba.  Can’t wait to try them as many of them are new this year.

We also planted winter squash, more summer squash and lots of broccoli and cauliflower (both orange and purple).  Our sugar snap peas should be ready this week, along with squash, beets and broccoli.  We’ve finally moved pass the greens only stage of growing.  Yeah!

We have had beautiful sunny days and great temperatures for the past several weeks.  Much better than last year.  Our tomato plants in the hoop house have blooms and are growing fast.  We also have tomato plants for sale so check us out at the Watauga County Farmer’s market.  Right now we have lettuce, arugula, spinach and radishes.  If you’d like to purchase some of our produce you can call the farm or come to the market.

Helton Creek was stocked on Monday so the fishing is even better.  Only one month left to catch and release so come on up and enjoy the weather and fishing.

On Thursday we moved the hoop house.  It was our first major project that went off without a hitch.  We built the hoop house on skids, attached it to a wench and started pulling.  My job was to push the button and everyone else was responsible for steering and making sure the hoop house didn’t come apart.  It did require some steering but the whole move took only 20 minutes.  Thanks to Joe, the great engineer I was ready to plant tomatoes.  On Friday we planted about 125 tomato plants which should produce tomatoes for us in mid to late June.

We have planted broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, carrots, arugula, raspberries, beets and sugar snap.  We are now just waiting for the rain to help them grow.  The Watauga market opens on May 1 so watch for us there.