Good Morning

Good Morning!

It's a beautiful day at the Genuine Faux Farm and we're glad you decided to stop by today!  We hope you're not allergic to cats, because Inspector is coming towards you.  He is our official farm greeter.

He's an incredibly friendly cat and he just loves to be picked up and held.  But, he knows it's a CSA morning.  That means his farmer friend needs to get to work harvesting for the farm's share holders.  Happily, Rob does make sure to get food and water to Inspector, the Sandman and Soup before getting started.  The Outdoor Supervisory Crew is now set for the day!

And, yes, Farmer Rob does give each of a the Outdoor Supervisors a skritch before the day officially starts.  We've got to keep the workers happy.

It's time to load up the cart with containers for harvest.  While we're at it, we'd better be sure to have the scale along for the ride and maybe a little music.  It's possible we'll forego the music for a while today so we can enjoy the sounds of nature.

Sometimes, the music is a necessity and other times it's just a nice addition.  But, today we've got a cardinal singing to us - something that doesn't happen all that often in September.  We've got some barn swallows chittering and telling us all about their plans for today and.. wait.. what's that?

Oh, yes, that's Inspector meowing at us again.  Apparently we didn't give him quite enough attention.  You know he won't leave us alone until we do this up right and proper.  So, we'll pick him up this time and turn him upside down for a belly rub.  That ought to do it.

Now that we've met that obligation, let's take the camera with us this morning.  The light is good and I'd like to get a little recording done before Caleb gets here to help with the cleaning and packing.  Besides, once we get to harvesting, there is little time to stop and look around.

It looks like it is time to run the irrigation on the young kohlrabi plants already.  It's been very dry here since late July when we got ridiculous amounts of rain.  So, it's good that we have drip line set up and ready to go.

These plants will put on a significant amount of growth in a pretty short period of time, but we've got to remember that the days will be getting shorter and that will slow their progress.  It looks like we might be pushing this crop a little bit, but we don't feel like it is too far off the mark.

There is a bit of dew on the grass this morning and the light is making everything seem a bit brighter today.  That makes for a great day to try and get some close-up pictures of the borage.  Borage collects a fair amount of dew and it literally sparkles when the morning sun hits them.  I try to take a moment at least once a year to look at borage flowers "up close and personal" on a morning with these conditions.  I don't always have the camera when that happens, but we've got it this time.

While we're at it, let's see if we can capture a picture of our shy nasturtium flowers.   We put them in our winter squash rows and they are often not easily seen this time of year when the vines are crawling all over the field.  We like the nasturtium because they help reduce the incidence of vine borers in our winter squash plants.  But, I realize, on days like this, that we underestimate their beauty most days.  Today is not one of those days.  They look great and I appreciate what they do for us.

We've had a large number of Painted Lady butterflies on the farm this year.  In fact, I've heard that there is a very large population in Iowa this year.  It's a bit early in the day for the peak of butterflies on the zinnias, but some are already catching some of the sun's rays and sipping nectar.  They seem to be a bit camera shy.  I can stand and watch them open their wings when I don't have the camera up and ready to go.  But, once the camera is up and I set the focus, they fly away.  Let's just take a quick shot of one with the wings closed and then let them go about their business.

This makes me think about the monarch population for the season.  We haven't seen much of them at all this year, despite all of our efforts to get plants on the farm that they like.  I can't help but wonder if they could make a comeback like the bald eagles have.  Then, I start to worry that they won't make a comeback.  Unfortunately, that's a bit of a downer thought on this glorious day, so we should accentuate the positive as a monarch appears and floats lazily down the zinnia row.

Uh oh!  Here comes Inspector again.  You know, this might be one of those times where his interruptions are a good thing.  I really do need to get to work and I can still think about and 'solve' the world's problems while I pick.

Let's give Inspector one more skritch and then go about our respective ways.  We hope you have a good day!