Farm News: August
August was a very busy month for us! Farm Kitchen hosted a wedding every weekend in August, and each one was wonderful in its own way. My favorite event of the month, however, was the Kitsap Farm Tour. Hi everyone, Phil here, sharing all things farming in August. The Kitsap Farm Tour was a special, first-annual event held on the second Sunday of August by the Kitsap Agritourism Coalition, and it brought more than three hundred people to Farm Kitchen (as well as the other farms in the county who participated. See Karin’s blog for more details). Here at Farm Kitchen we made maps for a mini scavenger hunt, and my job was to help kids, or mostly kids, pick their own carrots. It was so fun! They could choose between Cosmic Purple, orange Nantes, or Rainbow varieties (Rainbow meant they didn’t know what they were getting until it was out of the ground–could be white or so deep purple they almost looked black). Other stops on the scavenger hunt included harvesting a zinnia and a cosmo, and searching for gnomes in the cedar grove.
It was a great day, and everyone visiting was happy and respectful. There was, however, a moment where someone pulled up a cosmo at the end of the carrot row, because cosmos look like big carrot greens before they bloom. That was OK, though, because I buried its roots back in the same spot, and only one day later it had perked back up. Plants are resilient!
Many people who came through had gardens of their own, and it was such a pleasure to talk about our shared successes and failures this season. Most everyone agreed this has been a booming year for cucumbers, for example, but broccolis have mostly been a bust. We swapped strategies about how to trestle tomatoes and most everyone agreed the deer are becoming more brazen–they’ll just march into any unfenced garden and start snacking on the fruits and veggies like they’re a buffet just for them!
Talking about growing with the community is one of the best parts of farming, and in the middle of all those weddings it was so, so nice to take a momentary break from landscaping to keep the property looking immaculate and connect with other farmers in Kitsap. Pulling carrots with kids and commiserating with adults was an absolute pleasure, and the Kitsap Farm Tour was one of the best days I’ve had since starting at Farm Kitchen.
So, please, feel free to come by and talk farming with us in September. It doesn’t need to be a special event. Farm Kitchen is open during the week, and we are harvesting and pulling weeds daily. We’re all in this together, and sharing stories is one of the best parts of farming.