Millions of peaches, peaches for us...

Well, it's official, Megyn, Jola and I are hitting the road in about an hour. Megyn got here yesterday and has to be in Phoenix by 2pm tomorrow so, alas, we are coming home. I am ready but will miss the people, the farm and the work. We have learned a lot and worked really hard. I am glad for this whole experience. Riding along with us is about 20 pounds of peaches so if you ask nice, I might give you a peach. They are the early variety and according to some here, not the best peaches but they taste pretty damn good to me. I told Thomas that if he could figure out a way to get a truck load to Flagstaff that they would sell quickly, keep your fingers crossed. Well we'll see you all real soon. Miss and love,

Karna and Jola

Early morning squash blossom.

I think the summer squash plant is one of the most amazing plants. They produce so much and the flowers are beautiful and yummy.

Feeling hot, hot, hot...

Whew, it is getting hot here. It has been cooler than usual here with more precipitation than years past. Not anymore. It is so hot; how do they do it Phoenix??? Today we thinned out carrots and beets, cultivated the rows with tractors and by hand and there was a CSA pick up this afternoon. The best thing about the heat is that the peaches are starting to be ready. Jola and I got our first taste of this seasons peach harvest, yum. We are going to eat dinner at the Palisade Cafe tonight, I'm to tired and hot to cook. I think all farmers should have on site cooks.
Peace,
Karna and Jola

Work, work, work...

Greenhouse

Siesta

Today, the crew is starting to take siesta from 12-3:30. It is the hottest part of the day so they stop and then work into the evening when it's cooler. Jola got a head start.
Yesterday we worked at the Palisade Market. I like the Flagstaff Community Market, there seems to be much more focus on locally grown produce. Here there are more artisan vendors, prepared foods and vendors reselling, but it's still fun to be here. I really enjoy talking to the people and people watching. Today we are suckering and taping the tomato plants, I think it will be an all day project. I'll write more later.

A day off...

Hey,
Today is the Moab market, Mitzy and Josh take the truck every Saturday to that market. There is not much to do here at the farm, just the morning CSA from 10-12pm. We helped with that and have been taking it easy the rest of the day. We are having a farm crew potluck tonight at Manuel's house. Manuel is the caretaker of the orchard, he lives here year round. I'm excited to hang out with everyone for dinner. I guess I thought there would be more community dinners here, but everyone is so tired at the end of the day they eat simply and go to bed.
Yesterday, I had to transplant some royal oak leaf lettuce heads that we had planted too close. Then we taped the tomato plants. They sucker (cutting branches off of the plant that could essentially become another plant) and then tape the plants to a bamboo stick to train it to go up instead of bushing out. This makes harvesting one 500 foot row of tomatoes a lot easier. There are 5 or 6 of these rows here, can you imagine how many tomatoes that is! I'm going to try to find out. Mitzy was telling me that they sun dried some of the surplus last year on giant screens on the barn roof. What a yummy idea. Well, I need to get cooking. Until later.
Karna and Jola