My Farmer Husband sits patiently gliding back-and-forth, back-and-forth, in his rocking chair. The soft whirl of the ceiling fan the only sound in the silence that follows my question. I've been talking quickly and fervently for the past five minutes. With barely a moment for a breath. I've outlined my thoughts about our new focus. I'm excited and hopeful.
He quietly shakes his head from the whirl of my litany, trying to focus himself. Lost in the presented information. "Uh, ... sure. That sounds great," he responds trying to sound supportive.
"Are you sure?" asking for more reassurance. For I was unsure. I was eliminating so many tasty vegetables from our farm market. But we had to focus. My ambitious vision surpassed my abilities to maintain. The weeds, particularly the grasses, destroyed 3/4 of the sweet corn, 100% of the dried beans, 100% of the melons and cucumbers, 3/4 of the onions and half of the leeks. The tomatoes almost succumbed but they have only been delayed. The big pumpkins are not vining like they should as well. Although much of their difficulty is the squash beetles this year. We have had strawberries, blueberries, a few black raspberries, potatoes, some sweet corn, some snap beans and a few onions and leeks. Without the potatoes doing so well I don't believe there would be much of a reason to go to the market these past few weeks. But if our melons, onions, cucumbers and the rest of the sweet corn had made it, well, then it would have simply been much better. The prolific growth of weeds this wet and hot summer has been great for the grass. But not so great for the vegetables.
And so I read the list to him again. He didn't ask for it. I'm not sure he actually heard me in the rapidity of my first report. But he is, and always has been, supportive of any farming decisions I have made. And really, I just needed to hear it for myself again.
"We will expand the fruiting plants. Eighty hundred more blueberries. Fifteen hundred summer red raspberries (three varieties that ripen over different periods of the summer). More strawberries to fill about 1/8 acre. Black raspberries. Blackberries. Fruit trees (sweet and sour cherries, pears, plums, peaches, nectarines and apples). Table grapes planted on the west fence."
He's listening again. Not so blurry-eyed this time. Taking it in and thinking. "Yes..."
"But it's the vegetables we will really change." I pause to state it again. Because taking out a bunch of different vegetables is difficult.
"Our major vegetable in the summer will be....." I pause looking at his face trying to determine his response. "Heirloom tomatoes."
"Amish paste, marglobe, marmande, JDT (the Campbell's soup tomato), Green Giant, Brandywine and German reds and yellow. We will start them in the hoop house in March so that we will have some ready to go by mid May. We will plant around 350 plants throughout the summer because many of the plants are determinate tomatoes that only produce for a couple of weeks and will need to be replanted. We would still plant potatoes (but fewer), peppers, garlic, onions, Mirai sweet corn, beans and pumpkins. But the rest.... someone else will have to plant."
"What do you think?" "Am I being realistic?" "Can we do this?"
"Sounds great. And if we are able to do these well we can always add more later or remove the more labor intensive things like potatoes if we run out of time or energy," he says encouragingly.
I sigh with relief. Always hopeful. Always looking for that perfect growing year. And always learning. But I think we can do this. Farmer Husband's Mulch-o-matic collecting system will help tremendously. We can place the grass mulch between the plants and till the rows. We may use some selective pre-emergents on some of the plants... especially the sweet corn. But for the most part the fruits and vegetables will be grown as naturally as possible. I'm encouraged about the future. I hope that this new focus will eliminate the tortuous work of finding vegetables through the grass. And that our efforts will be rewarded with beautiful, abundant, superb tasting produce.
"Ah, honey?" I ask. "One more thing..... we will have to grow more flowers. Zinnias, cone flowers, rubeckia, and marigolds. We need more color around here...."
He smiles.
Today's Journey Joy - Focusing
