Suddenly, as in almost overnight, our grasshopper plague has ended! I hadn’t even noticed until Will mentioned it. No more clouds of grasshoppers flying up in front of us when we walk in the garden. And it hasn’t even frosted yet. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I’ve been busy since the seminar, harvesting tomatoes and corn for seed. As the Blue Jays are still pestering the corn, we’re bringing it in a little early. Most of the kernels are still doughy, not dry as we’d like. But rather than lose it, we are bringing it in and tying it up in ropes, hanging them from hooks and nails all over the house and enclosed porch. We’re amazed at how nice the ears are of both the Bear Island Chippewa flour corn and the Seneca Sunrise sweet corn, despite the grasshoppers, birds, and drought. (Not to mention the heat!)

Isn’t the Bear Island Chippewa flour corn beautiful this year?
The Seneca Sunrise sweet corn amazed us during the drought and Blue Jay attack by growing nice big, fat ears. And LOTS of them.

Our tomatoes, also, have more than survived. We’re hauling in batches of each variety so I can seed them out. It’s great, how many fat tomatoes are on nearly all of the vines and how well they’re ripening. I just did Amos Coli Paste and Amish Gold Slicer. Both were nice and large and tasted so great. Bacon and tomato sandwiches anyone? We make them, heavy on the tomato — yum.

Isn’t this Amos Coli Paste tomato gorgeous? Tasty too.

Yesterday, Will and his friend Darryl combined Will’s oat crop. Following the combine, Will baled up the straw with the square baler, both for mulch and for sale. By then it was nearly dark. I went home to make supper (9:30 PM) while Will hooked the pickup to the gravity box (a grain bin on wheels), which was full of oats. He made it about ¾ of a mile and the front axle of the trailer snapped. A quick call to Darryl and he came down the road with his Kubota, with a loader on the front. They managed to limp the gravity box off of the hardly-traveled, dead end road. Will got home for supper just in time to watch the weather on the 10 o’clock news. Whew. Today he’s picking up the square bales off the field (rain is forecast), then will try to pick up the front end of the gravity box with his big International’s 3-point hitch and drag it home like a fifth wheel trailer. We’ll see how that goes… — Jackie

23 COMMENTS

  1. I love the look of your corn. Absolutely beautiful. I do have a question. I was canning up a batch of dry baby Lima’s. Loaded the canner and I guess my mind was a million miles away. I forgot to vent canner. ??‍♀️ I did process pints at 10# for 75 minutes. Do you think these 19 pints will be fine?

  2. What beautiful corn! So glad your tomatoes made it.Is the Seneca OP? A couple of years yet before we get our house built and start veg gardening, but i’m researching OP varieties of veg now. As you well know, there’s a lot to it! We all learn so much from you.

    Cheers, Mardell

  3. Wow what a busy day you had! Seems like it never fails on such a busy day there is an equipment failure, at least in my experience. Good neighbors are such a blessing arent they. Hope Will got the gravity box home with no more trouble. Love bacon and tomato sandwiches! Your tomatoes look marvelous!

    • Good neighbors and friends are hugely important to us. We try to be good neighbors and friends in return. He did get the gravity box home in short order, with no more trouble. We just about LIVE on bacon and tomato sandwiches and sweet corn this time of the year!

  4. Did you have grasshoppers early in the season? A couple of years ago we had them early and it was a huge problem as they attacked my seedlings. I’ve made myself a net to catch the little blighter if the arrive en masse this year, then I’ll feed them to my chooks. They can make growing food really difficult, as if the weather isn’t difficult enough. But, growing is in my blood so won’t give up until I’m in the grave. Corn and tomatoes look heavenly, it’ll be months before I can harvest any, just sowing the seeds now.

    • Yes, we did have them early but as the season progressed, they got bigger and bigger! We don’t give up either. And as a result, our harvest is amazing, even to us.

  5. Plants under stress will surprise you, won’t they? Those are amazing! Sure doesn’t look like drought effected them. And the flavors seem to be more intense? Blessings.

  6. Your corn is beautiful!! Both kinds look great! I love that tomato that you pictures. My list is getting bigger for this next catalog!!

    So what happened to the beavers and their home during this drought? Will they still be able to tell us what to look forward to for winter?

    Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!

    • The beavers managed to hang in through the drought because of the higher dam they built this spring. Yep, they’ll still be our top forecasters this fall.

  7. Jackie or anyone, what do you like as the best tomato to make sauce? I normally get Jerusalem Hearts but this year could not find any even at my Amish farms. I don’t know really what to ask for now. Thanks

    • Amish Paste, Belmont Pear, Giant Oxheart or Oxheart Pink all make great sauce. The Oxhearts & Belmont Pear are very productive in my garden.

    • I love Amish Paste, Amos Coli Paste, Mia’s Italian and Ruth Collier Paste but Aker’s Plum is right up there too. Gee I have SO many “favorites”!

  8. Axles always break at the most inopportune time. Please replace BOTH axles as speaking from experience, once one goes, the other is sure to follow (if both are the same age, as in original!).
    Still getting tomatoes here. I’ve been picking the paste once so ripe and ripening the rest of the way in the house. I only have so many plants and don’t want to lose any. I saw signs of a tomato worm (horn worm) but I couldn’t find it. Since very little damage, I suspect a turkey or other larger bird made a meal out of it.

    • Hi Selena…thought I would mention the black light flashlight trick in case you hadn’t heard of it. Buy one of those and go out a during the late evening when it is getting darker. The hornworms glow in the dark and are easy to spot. You won’t miss them like so often happens in the daylight. Good luck

      • Sheryl – I’m pretty sure a wild turkey got it. No other signs of it since then. But I’ll remember the black flashlight trick.

    • We will replace both. As you said, they’re both the same age and probably have the same amount of rust! If you have hornworms, you’ll see lots of round green poop balls on the stems and leaves and naked leaf stems. I used to pick hornworms. Until I found out that they turn into wonderful hummingbird moths! Sheryl’s trick is cool. Gotta try that myself, just to see them.

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