Thursday, July 24, 2014

Hotter Than...Kraken's Breath

  Tortuga Thursday
In 2012, on the plains of Northern Arizona, two families joined forces and began the trials and tribulations of building a small family farm with nothing in the bank but love.

Kraken's Breath
The first cucumbers have come off the vine and into jars. We're pretty excited about this year's batch because all the lessons learned from last year will make this year's Pirate Pickles even better.

I looked back on pictures from our first two growing seasons and experienced a rash of pride for my farmer son. He seemed to  have a certain amount of "farmer sense" and a built-in know how when we first started this adventure. But he's a quick study and the crops are benefiting. Our fields not only look better but are producing equally gorgeous vegetables.

June 2012
The heat has been awful for me but a boon to the plants. Some of our plants aren't baring ripe produce yet but of the ones that
July 2014 same field
are, it's been good eating! Last night, we had spare ribs cooked with our cabbage. A salad consisted of tomatoes, kale, chard, leaf lettuce, shredded kohlrabi and diced celery - all from our fields. Tonight, steamed carrots from the greenhouse were sweet eating. Tomorrow night, I think we'll have meatloaf seasoned with nothing but our Pirate Relish. Love it!

Shared my space with the bees in the cukes
Lance worked on our Kickstarter campaign today so I harvested
Where I spent my morning
cucumbers in his place. It's a little disconcerting with all the buzzing, but he said if I just ignore the bees, they'll ignore me. Still...I did my best not to disturb too many of them. The cucumbers are coming slowly but in a day or two it will be manic. Lance is striving to complete the Kickstarter process before then. I'll announce how that works as soon as I can.

10 comments:

  1. Would not have your mental fortitude to "ignore" the bees...what a stunning crop this year!!! No wonder you are so proud of Lance :))

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  2. Huge difference made in two years - good for all y'al!

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  3. Love fresh cucumbers out of the garden. The hubby plants the burpless kind. Your garden picture looks lush! A lot of hard work went into doing that.

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    1. Burpless cucumber would be great, Pepper. Yes, lots of hard work. All of our cukes are for pickling.

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  4. There is nothing like fresh veggies from the garden! Our string beans are about ready to be picked and I have pickled them before too!

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    1. You betcha, Ilona. Our beans aren't ready yet but love them!

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  5. You guys have come SOOOO far in such a short time! I'm so impressed!!

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