Veggies really do taste better when you grow them

OK so the harvest is kicking in big time right now.  Okra, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, squash, ground cherries, sunflowers, pumpkins and watermelon and dang gum if the brandywine tomatoes that are as big as my hand may just be the best tomatoes I have eaten in years.  I know that I am biased but I am darn near a vegetarian lately, eating squash, zucchini, tomato sandwiches and everything else that Josh is growing.  You gotta love mid to late summer.

It is wonderful not to worry about who has been handling the vegetables before eating them as I pick the cherry tomatoes right off the vine.  They are sweet and as flavorful as table grapes.  When I go to the vegetable section

sunflowers reaching for the sun

of the local Safeway I am scoffing at the selections that are being offered.  It is amazing how arrogant one gets when you have a gifted farmer making your fields come to life.

The big worry right now is to prevent so much wonderful food from going to waste.  We are filling the walk in refrigerator at camp with fresh veggies and we barely have enough room for the camper lunches each day.  Even though we are filling vegetable orders each day,  they are not keeping pace with the output and we are not sure if we will be able to move the produce as easily once summer camp ends in two weeks.

Next year we will have a CSA in place for our after school school and summer camp families, but when we started out this past March we just were not sure how much we would be able to grow and if the vegetables would be good enough to sell.  Now we know.

todays harvest

As much fun as we are having right now Josh has promised that the harvest will be much better this fall and next year.  That is a little hard to imagine.  Most importantly is the interest level of the campers.  Each day Josh as no problem finding eager little helpers in the garden and he loves to share his knowledge with them.  It has been such a win win proposition.  Lots of help, a built in market, a great harvest, and so much enthusiasm from our campers and their parents.

A USDA high tunnel grant is awaiting my signature and the fall looks to be just as promising as the summer has been.  Good Good stuff.