It’s hard not to feel how abundant life can be, even in these tough times.  These last couple of weeks have been consumed with canning, dehydrating and of course garden maintenance.   The cucumber vines are coming to an end with the heat, and due to my inexperience with giving them proper climbing structures.  The lemon cucumbers however are thriving in their location, climb very well and are not very heavy, although abundant with fruit.  The flavor is nice & clean and I am certain I’ll be planting these again next year and perhaps in my greenhouse!

Ripe Lemon Cucumbers are BEAUTIFUL!

I’ve decided to help my friend open a weekday Farmer’s Market here in Newport and that adds quite a bit to my plate, but I’m VERY excited to do it.   Cocke County Farm & Garden is where I get all my animal feed and raw grains and I couldn’t possibly think of a better location to have a small weekday market and fall time weekend market!  I’m happily preparing baked goods and home canned items to offer at that market along with fresh produce!

The mixed Australorps have hatched, along with a couple of the potential Olive Eggers.  I got a large percentage of blues, which is just what I prayed for.  Now if I can have a mix of boys and girls from those blues, I would dare say the poultry gods were smiling down upon me.

I have MUCH to get done today, I bought pounds of apples from our local orchard, Carver’s is only down the street a few minutes from me, and I have juicing, jelling and many jars of jam & pie filling ahead of me.  I have produce to pick and a market to get ready for, as well as a few signs to paint from some simple plywood to help out the Newport Market.  I have updated as much of the website as time allows this week, both mine & the Farmer’s Market site, so I will leave you with a few more shots of the ‘farm so you can enjoy them too!

Yellow Pear Tomatoes

I’m having a wonderful time this summer so far! Last night I put several quarts of pickles, relish & pickled slaw into the storage closet and I couldn’t be more proud! I’m currently picking twice per week, once for us and once for the market. I can see that very quickly I’ll have to step that up to 3 times per week minimum as more produce comes into season. Lemon cucumbers are doing so well and I picked my first one of those as well as a lovely banana pepper. I have no idea how either will taste, so I’ll try and remember to report back on that! Bell peppers are weighing the plants so much they are falling over, so I actually had to stake them as well. I have a GEORGEOUS Spaghetti squash in the back and it has several fruits on it for me to pick soon I suspect. I have seriously underestimated some of the growing potential of certain plants and overestimated on others. Next years garden will be so much neater, I can hardly wait!

I have 2 incubators whirring with mixed Australorp eggs and a few potential Olive Eggers as well and I can’t wait for their arrival in a couple weeks. A week later I’ll be expecting another dozen or so that are currently under a hen. It was her decision, really, I just went along with it.

The egg laying in general has slowed down a bit in the heavier Orpingtons, it is a bit hot. The last week has provided us all with suffocating humidity and seemingly lethal heat indexes. Our smaller grow outs, the splash & GLO chicks have moved up to the main bank of coops. I’ve been thinning out the flocks because in my early excitement as a chicken owner, I frankly got too many of the wrong kind of chickens for us. There was no way to know this though until I really got into it, had enough of the different breeds & types to know what it is we really wanted. I’m happy to report though that all of our chickens are getting wonderful forever homes where they will continue their lives as breeders of fine quality chicks.

Today is Friday and that means HARVESTING day! I get everything ready best I can the day before so it is easier to get out the door on market morning. This week I have very little to take to market as I put up a bunch of the cucumbers for our own purpose. But others have started bringing great amounts of summer type yellow squashes, cabbages & zucchini! When I don’t have much to sell, I can socialize or go with a basic setup and leave early or spend my time helping out. Its nice to have the flexibility to decide.

Well, on that note, I have to go! The cukes are awaiting me!!

These last couple of weeks have been really nice here ‘on the farm. We have harvested many pounds of food, including chicken, green beans, lettuces & spinach, basil and now today our FIRST cucumber of the season! I’m very excited to use it in tonight’s salad and see how good this variety is.

We’ve been very busy getting started in our Farmer’s Market booth. I only wish I had planted more of everything!!! I’m enjoying all this gardening a great deal and look forward to the long season ahead of me.

I’m working hard to keep the Farmer’s Market website updated too, so bear with me as we drum up business for the season! If your local, please DO spread the word!!
http://www.NewportTNFarmersMarket.com