Contributor Theresa Gould’s latest update on her organic farming learning experience.  A husband, wife and their seven children team up and start planting the seeds…

As many of you may know, we are well into our first growing season.  I started to write an update a while ago and just never got it typed up.  We have been incredibly busy, to say the least.

First, let me share that we are indeed gleaning from the fruits of our labor.  I think this may be the most exciting part for the children.  Harvesting is like a treasure hunt to them and has made all the work worthwhile.  One of our sons last week said, “I used to hate the garden, but now I love it because I love zucchini!”  What he means is that he loves the zucchini cake that his sisters bake for our family!

We are currently harvesting Swiss chard, kale, peas, beans, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, onions, lettuce and some tomatoes are almost ready.  Our radishes are done; soon we’ll have sugar baby watermelon – yummy!

It has been a lot of hard work. Even my husband, who never thought of himself as a farmer, has said that it has been fun and enjoyable, but hard work.  He has thoroughly enjoyed learning to drive and use the tractor that our farmer “landlord” has let us use freely this whole season.  I drove it once or twice to see if I could do it and so I’d know how to, but otherwise I let him go to it because I know it’s “his” thing.  I was and still am content to weed, plant and direct the children.

The Learning Curve
As beginner farmers we have had our own learning curve.  We were very disappointed not to have much lettuce (we planted quite a variety), carrots, pumpkins, beets, cauliflower or cabbage come up.  Due to our late start, we direct planted most of our seeds, but will not do that next year.  We plan to start earlier and begin planting inside, in February.

We are still learning how to deal with the pests and disease that can attack vegetables.  However, to be honest, so far they have caused minimal damage.  We have been using a solution with essential oils and water and spraying it on our plants and I think it has really helped.

Looking Ahead
We are looking ahead to doing some fall planting, with seeds already sprouted in our mini indoor greenhouses.  This is in preparation for the future, as we may try a couple of small farmers’ markets that have the least amount of commitment (a day or two here and there) so we can get our name out there and our foot in the door for next year’s growing season.  We do have a farm name in the works and will share it as soon as it is official!