here is a tomato horn worm. i found it on our cherry tomato plants on monday. it's huge, for a worm, about the size of my middle finger. i usually have no problem with squishing the (many) caterpillars i find on our plants (especially the cabbage family) by hand, but i was not ready to do that with this guy. it makes a pretty loud cliking sounds as it chews the leaves off the tomato plants. those white things attached all over it are brachonid wasp cocoons. we've been trying to attract this wasp to our garden by planting different flowers and generally creative a conducive habitat. the wasp parasitizes all kinds of caterpillars, and lays its eggs inside them, eventually killing them. many conventional farmers spray pesticides to get rid of the tomato horn worm and others, but if you create conditions that will attract beneficial insects like this wasp, spraying is unnecessary. the system will balance itself out. pesticides kill not only the pests, but the beneficials as well, so you become dependent on them.
in case you're interested in reading more about parasitic wasps and other beneficials, here's an article i found online. there are many more, of course.

here's a tomato horn worm without the wasp parasites


and this is our seed garlic, and onions in the background. our onions and garlic were beautiful this year.

peace

sena got dressed up in a hand-me-down princess dress we got from a friend, and wanted a picture by the old maple in our front yard. i like it.

a few days ago, aiyana said to me: "every day is a happy day", and i was very moved by this.
life is so sweet and simple and beautiful when you're as pure as a four-year-old, unencumbered by all kinds of artificial wants and hopes.

another record market yesterday. things have been going really well, and i am very grateful.
it's hard to believe, but even with all our hard work and everything going well, financial sustainability is still a huge issue for us. hopefuly we'll come out positive at the end of this year. all i want is to be able to keep doing this. i don't want a lot of money at the end of the year, just enough to sustain our simple lifestile and to allow us to continue to farm.
peace

we're already into fall planting. can barely believe how fast summer is going by.
but it has been an amazing summer. i don't think we can ask for better crops - they've done so well, with all the heat and humidity we've had. we haven't had much rain, but fortunately, ed and i dug our well and installed our irrigation for the field just in time. it would've been a very different situation without the readily available water...

we have so many tomatoes right now, and they are so good. very exciting, especially after last year's late blight, which wiped us out. these days though, it feels like all i'm doing is harvesting tomatoes all day long, and i remind myself that that's something to be grateful for when i get tired of it.

our CSA is almost half-way through, and we continue to get very positive and encouraging feedback. many people tell us how happy they are, and how they want to sign up again next year. also, they say that they know other people who'd like to sign up. so our waiting list for 2011 is growing, and we will most likely be expanding the CSA next year.

all is good over here,
peace

this morning

aiyana and i went to the field this morning and i had to take some pics of her:

in the chicken coop, getting eggs (i love her expression)

and standing by the zinnias


peace

yesterday we had entertainment at the farmers' market - a man who played guitar and did some very nice covers. at the end, he played a few songs just for the kids, and here are sena, aiyana, annie and jaden dancing and enjoying themselves.

this is that big eggplant i referred to earlier. it weighed 2.7lbs. and tasted really good in the eggplant parm my sister made with it.

crop, no zucchini, circles (i think they were made by an insect. pretty cool, aren't they?)

peace

i love this picture of sena, which ricardo took at our last farmers' market.
and check out this picture. see those watermelons in the background? we grew them! (very exciting...). i wasn't holding out much hope for them, but here they are, nice and ripe, and sweet. and i learned a few things too, like make sure to weed them early, so next year, they may be even better.

peace

helping each other

my sister and ricardo have been a huge help. ed and i grow our food, but we're so busy doing that all day long, that we have no time for cooking, let alone preserving. often, we have more veges than we can sell, so my sister and ricardo take them, and they cook or preserve them for the winter. they keep some, and we get some, and so it works out for everyone. they've made garlic scape pesto, as well as basil pesto (my freezer is already full); they made about 25 quart-sized jars of pickles for us; soon they'll can tomato sauce. not to mention all the cooked food, like the eggplant parmesan my sister made yesterday with the hugest eggplant i ever saw (it weighed 2.7lbs); and a roasted pepper salad, which was the most heavenly thing. i ate it with pesto, and could not believe how amazing it was.

i'm really happy that we can work together this way. not only do we have fresh, delicious food right now, but we'll have some for the winter too...

so thank you roxi and ricardo.
peace

sena's PSA and website

my little born-activist, Sena, did a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the radio. it plays on UConn's radio station, WHUS 91.7FM. we heard it once last week, but we heard from various people that they played it at least four times, and another time, two DJ's were just talking about it and about sena.

the first time i heard it, i almost burst into tears. it's really moving to hear this little 6-year-old who is so earnest in pleading with all of us to care more for whales, and for our planet. she really humbles me.

you can hear sena's PSA anytime on her website, www.senawhales.org.