Good to get that dirt back under my nails (Caitlyn)

Kind of eerie how you can be away from somewhere for nearly two weeks, but upon returning you feel as though you never left. It's pretty neat, though, that garden habits have been sufficiently engrained in me by this time that it required no thinking at all to slip back into them today. I was also glad to find that, while the garden obviously kept growing during my absence, I didn't miss out on anything terribly dramatic. The heirloom tomatoes are starting to turn color, the nicotianas' stems have thickened and their hummingbird-friendly blossoms have multiplied greatly, the poppies are showing much more color... All the flowers look so full right now, from the cheerful sunflowers to the toppling-over zinnias to the sensuous deep blue/pink morning glories. (Photographic evidence following.)

Zinnias and sunflowers

Morning glories

Anyway, it sounds like it was a productive period while I was away, harvesting the Walla Walla sweet onions, planting beets and asian greens, wrapping up our time with the Mary Hogan summer program (hopefully we will continue to work with that group at their garden during the school year), taking a nice visit to Gleasons Grains. One unfortunate development was that the Pizza My Heart sweet red peppers had to be pulled! They had all contracted some form of rot and not a single fruit was spared. It's become really obvious to us over the past few months that the hot house is just not situated in a very growing-conducive spot, with a lot of clay and water run-off concentrated on the western end. Preparing the ground further to the east in order to move the production for next year has been added to our list of projects to tackle in the next few weeks and this fall.
On another note, today = Wednesday = field trip! It was a short one today, a last-minute arrangement with the energetic Bill Suhr at Champlain Orchards. He has a beautiful site, especially with a lot of the fruit in full color right now. You can definitely tell that Bill loves farming and being out among the trees, but he's quite the businessman too, constantly coming up with innovative ways to get his product out there. For example, he's recently begun selling delicious pies at the Middlebury Co-op and thousands of pounds of sliced apples, most notably to a local company (the owner used to work for Ben & Jerry's and Stoneyfield) that sells unbaked, frozen pies in supermarkets nationwide. Bill is somewhat comfortable with the nationwide aspect, though, saying that he's really interested in just feeding the collective Vermont mouth. In conclusion, great field trip, great day, and here's some scenes from the orchard to top it all off.

Orchard!

Tree limb that has been grafted onto a trunk using that green gunk (I forget what it is...)

A luscious trio

No way is it August 1 (Caitlyn)

Jenny and I decided yesterday that the big mystery of the summer so far definitely has to be, Where did July go?? My wholehearted apologies to anyone out there who has been hoping to follow along with this summer's activities. Hopefully we can do a better job during August (although the next two weeks are going to have to be carried by my fellow workers since I'll be spending some time at home!).
Anyway, summer 2006 at Slow the Plow (or Plough? I've seen it both ways on our literature) is going beautifully. I think I speak for all four of us girls when I say that it's been an absolute joy going to "work" each day (we even feel awkward referring to it as work since the atmosphere out there is so relaxed and fun). Let's see, some general summer things to share...
1) We've expanded a lot this year, from about 1 1/2 acres cultivated last summer to 2 1/2 now, including cover crops in both those numbers. However, I feel like things are still well under control--someone used the word 'manicured' the other day to describe the garden, and while that strikes me as a bit sterile, our clover paths and geometric beds certainly look nice. One exciting new area is a little down the hill on the east side (facing campus): the Derick bed, named after the indispensible John Derick of course, consists of 1/4 acre of soy bean plants, around 2200 row feet, all planted by hand! John is hoping to experiment with some biodiesel activities, and we are hoping to provide him with the soy beans to do so.
2) The weather has been a little nuts this year, lots of rain and many thunderstorm warnings. Although these conditions have been bad news for most local farmers, they've actually been great for our droughty spot out on the knoll, probably more of a help than a hindrance. Anyone who worked in the garden the past couple years will probably be shocked to hear that we've done hardly any watering; the rain has done such a good job keeping the ground wet that we really only make use of our brand new pump when washing vegetables.
3) Speaking of vegetables, they are looking good! We've been harvesting a lot of beets, mesclun, spinach, green beans lately and eggplant (for the Co-op!), etc. The cherry and orange blossom tomatoes are revving up and the heirlooms should be starting to turn any day now. Some fun new plants in the garden this year are the centerpiece of the kitchen garden, the artichoke!, sweet potatoes and asparagus.
4) One of my favorite aspects of this job has been the opportunity to meet so many of the local farmers. So far, our field trips have taken us to Will and Judy Stevens at Golden Russet Farm, Chris Granstrom at Lincoln Peak Vineyard, Mark and Kristen at Essex Farm, Jane and crew at Cerridwen Farm at Green Mountain College, and David Zuckerman at the Intervale. Thanks also to Frank for the "field trip" to his cabins on Lake George and to Kirk Webster for a lovely dinner at his cozy abode. We are still looking forward to visiting Ben and Theresa of Gleason Grains and Marjorie and Marian at Orb Weaver Farm.
5) We've also had a good time hosting some volunteers from the French school and working with a lunch & rec program up at Mary Hogan Elementary School. The kids and teachers there are actually developing a garden of their own, and I have great hopes that MCOG will continue its involvement with this group during the school year.
6) Finally, I've sort of taken on the task of official photographer (although I have approximately zero experience in the field), so I should include a couple pictures before signing off...

The knoll!

Bee swarm in May. Unfortunately it gathered on the box holding all our equipment so we couldn't capture it.

Soy bean intenseness

Anna, our chard beauty queen

A closeup of the luscious fruit on our productive blueberry bush

Day lilies are everywhere out here in Vermont

Anna and Ross checking the hives

Golden beet beauty

We were graced with a visit from Bennett in early July, which inevitably led to a lot of music making. (Jenny is on guitar, Rosalind watches and enjoys.)

Ros and Jay at the Intervale

Well, I have loads more I could post, but I don't want to get too carried away. Hope everyone reading this is having a wonderful summer, getting some good sunshine and eating good food!

A New Mode of Communication

Hello gardeners,
Welcome to the spiffy blog of the Organic Garden. This summer me (Jenny Schneider, '07), Anna Viel ('07), Caitlyn Olson ('09) and Rosalind Chaplin ('09) are working as interns with Jay Leshinsky at Middlebury's Organic Garden. This is a kind of online journal for us to post our thoughts on gardening throughout the summer. Enjoy!