Features

July brought the end of planting over 3,000 tomato seedlings! We couldn't rest on our vines, though, because the first tomatoes we planted were already flopping by the time we were done planting the last tomatoes. We started pounding stakes beside each one and tying the plants to the stakes, so they would grow up toward the sun and the fruit would not rot on the ground. This process took until July 24, with tying to continue as the plants grow up the stakes.

Soon as we finished planting our summer crops, we started our fall crops so they will be ready before the possibility of frost starting on September 15. We planted pumpkins and winter squash in hills, and seeded a fall crop of lettuce, broccoli, radicchio, turnips, beets, carrots, arugula, mesclun, cress, leeks, sorrel, and dill.

This is the first season we are experimenting with compost tea, to try and naturally inhibit the growth of pathogens on our tomato plants. Fusarium wilt and early blight are two common diseases that slow the growth of tomato plants or kill them.

We make batches of compost tea in our 25-gallon brewer. It is like a fish tank for microbes. Once filled with water, a mesh "tea bag" is filled with three cups of worm castings, rich in beneficial microorganisms. Then a solution made of bird guano, molasses, and soluble kelp is added to give the microbes something to eat.

The last step is to turn on the pump and let the concoction swirl for 24 hours or more. The pump mixes all the ingredients and aerates the water to encourage friendly aerobic microbes to outcompete unfriendly anaerobic microbes, such as salmonella. When compost tea is sprayed on the leaves of our plants, beneficial microorganisms will find a good environment in which to live and grow to smother the pathogens that cause plant disease.

The electric fence has not been working and we don't have enough time to trouble-shoot it, so we have been employing an ancient deterrent to protect our plants from the deer that like to browse them. I have been sleeping down in the field with a dog. I started doing so out of concern for our plants, but I have grown to like it down there, and might even do so even if our fence is fixed.

I like to sing the plants lullabies before we go to sleep at night, and see them when we wake up in the morning. Sometimes, it is so foggy I can't see the plants, much less the end of my sleeping bag. And down by the creek is one of the coolest places to sleep on warm, muggy nights.

July was a big month for seeing the fruits of our labors–we are now harvesting boxes full of tender summer squash twice a week, along with bunches of basil and the first summer baking apples. We've got some cucumbers, and the very first few cherry tomatoes ripened on July 28, but not enough to take to market yet.

Now that the rainy spring is over, the stars are amazing out here in the country. On July 17 we had a big bonfire and were able to observe an unusual celestial event, as Mars passed right by the moon. It was hard to tell the falling stars from the sparks of our fire.

Voice writer Andrew Mefferd is working on Voice columnist Mike Tabor's organic farm in Needmore, Pennsylvania this season.