Harvest: Peppers

Documenting Progress: 3rd Installment

See the 1st installment here.

See the 2nd installment here.

August 26, 2008

September 27, 2008
Farm Boxes No.1 and 2

The boxes have fallen into a bit of a mess. The lettuce has gone to flower which makes the leaves too bitter. The onions are still doing well and the chard is holding on but has been neglected. In the next week we'll do a clean-up.

Autumn Pepper Roundup

While the rest of the farm has been finishing up for the year, the peppers are still going strong. This is the pepper pot with habaneros, jamaican hot yellows and thai hot peppers. Even this late in the season the plants are flowering. Elsewhere on the farm, the poblano pepper plants, the banana peppers and the godfather peppers are all still doing well.

Plant Problems: Aphids

Natural pest control is important to Brooklyn Farm. In the spring we found a outbreak of aphids chomping on the crops. In response we released a platoon of aphid killers: ladybugs. Now that it's autumn we haven't decided what to do. Apparently you can just spray off the plants with a strong stream of water and the aphids won't return to the same spot.
But maybe these aren't even aphids. Does anybody know?

Pest Control: Slugs

The nerve. These slugs are cruising around the farm a little too comfortably and actions must be taken. We've spotted them before hanging around the crops. Slugs are almost entirely made up of water so they have to stay in damp places to keep from drying up. This critter was found slithering across the path in broad daylight.
Aerial view showing the trail of slime.
Slugs are attracted to yeast and barley. We filled a couple bowls with beer and sunk them into the ground.
The party got out of hand, in the morning we found over a dozen baby slugs drowning in the beer.

Harvest: Figs

The inherited fig tree is on a non-stop ripeness express. Every day there is another dozen figs that turn from green to purple. Farmer No. 1 is making fig jam from the harvest and will write about the process soon.

Brooklyn Farm Fashion

Brooklyn Farm was recently featured as the backdrop for an upcoming fashion story in the French magazine Dirrty Glam. The photo shoot was a lot of fun watching the talented team of Anna Wolf, Mike Perry, Nicole Olson, Ainee, hair and make-up lady (sorry!) and the three models (forgot their names too). Here is Anna framing the shot:
A few finished layouts. There are Farm Boxes No. 1 and 2 on the left.
The grape vine plays supporting roles:
The fig tree:

Plant Problems: That is not kohl rabi

The seed packet is labelled kohl rabi. There is no way that this plant is kohlrabi. This plant looks an awful lot like a dandelion. That would mean that the seed company is selling packets of weeds under the guise of cabbage. Good thing that dandelion greens are actually extremely nutritious cooked or raw.
Bad thing that the growing season is extremely short… as the leaves get bigger the taste goes more bitter. A taste test Farmer No. 2 confirmed that the leaves are in fact bitter. The plants have also flowered which is another sign that we missed harvest time. At least the hundreds of bugs loitering on the stalk are enjoying themselves.