Goodbye Spring... Hello Summer!

May Arcadia Peas ripe for harvest! 

Today is the Summer Solstice, a time for both joyful celebration for the abundance on the farm right now, and quiet reflection upon the previous months' toil.  It is quite hard to believe that only a few short months ago, we were training pea shoots through the trellis, weeding and mulching and feeding and watering them, waiting for the first sign of a pea pod.  And even just a few short weeks ago, we harvested the last of the pea crop and folded over the vines to feed the soil for next year.

Ripe Sun Golds:
Your first taste of Summer

It's not so hard to say goodbye though to the spring crops when so many others are bursting off the plants.  This week, we harvested beets, green beans, and three types of kales (curly, lacinato, and red russian).  Since summer starts this week, it was so appropriate to also find some ripe cucumber, squash, and tomatoes!  What a treat to have your first taste of summer right off the vine of a Sun Gold tomato plant!  While the beets, green beans and kale make their way onto Arcadia's Mobile Market (see schedule here), it might be a week or so for the tomatoes.  Though the season is a few weeks ahead, the tomatoes are still a bit green (fried green tomatoes, anyone?)... but, be patient, they will soon be ready!  We added more mulch to the tomatoes and continue to tie up them up as they grow keeping them up off the ground.  This week's hot dry DC weather will be a little rough, but the mulching will help retain moisture and keep those plants growing.

Happy Solstice to everyone and I hope you are celebrating the bounty of the season with a nice salad and something really cold to drink.  Perhaps, you'll be lucky enough to find a Sun Gold today!  Many thanks to Farmer Mo for saving one for me!