Mom was thrilled to harvest her first larger heirloom tomatoes that had ripened. We learned from Farmer Daryl (at the Black Diamond Farmer's Market) that tomatoes will actually go dormant and not ripen as they are saving their energy during excessive heat cycles. We learned from Frankie (at the Orting Farmer's Market) that California growers all plant their tomatoes to grow along the ground (like indeterminate vines), rather than being staked, to keep them cooler in the high heat. Interesting! We love learning tidbits like this, just from talking 'shop' with other farmers in the region. So, this year our first BIG tomatoes didn't ripen until August 12th. Even though they are quiet large, their skin is soft and they are sweet and delicious! Oh, nothing from the store tastes like it does from the garden, trust us on that!
This pumpkin, and several others like it are coming up from an heirloom, organic pumpkin we had picked up at the store, but had rotted before we got to eat it. What we bought was not ripened (although we didn't know it at the time) and was a beautiful dark green and yellow speckled squash. This is how it should have looked, and will likely store better because it was able to complete it's growth cycle. The rotten squash was just tossed onto a bed that hadn't been used much along a path to the rabbitry. This year, we dug out the pathway, filled it with wood chips and piled up the extra dirt on these seeds and decaying shell. We are blessed with a large number of squash plants happily growing in this sandy soil we didn't even need to amend!
This pumpkin, and several others like it are coming up from an heirloom, organic pumpkin we had picked up at the store, but had rotted before we got to eat it. What we bought was not ripened (although we didn't know it at the time) and was a beautiful dark green and yellow speckled squash. This is how it should have looked, and will likely store better because it was able to complete it's growth cycle. The rotten squash was just tossed onto a bed that hadn't been used much along a path to the rabbitry. This year, we dug out the pathway, filled it with wood chips and piled up the extra dirt on these seeds and decaying shell. We are blessed with a large number of squash plants happily growing in this sandy soil we didn't even need to amend!
This is a great example of how we are blessed by the natural fertility of the Lord's creation but things can be very different - here's another experience we had:
In 2014 we had some volunteer squash plants growing and Mom was excited about what might 'pop up'. The vines grew larger and longer with HUGE, deep green leaves and they looked brilliant as they quickly took over our hugel kultur. Month after month they grew and grew with flowers coming up and dying, as they do. What was different, however, was the lack of fruit at the base of these flowers. Mom looked for weeks thinking maybe she had missed them...Where were they? Were they rotting off? Was some animal eating them? What was happening?
Sadly, we learned the truth. Although we were selective about our gift, some of those beautiful, big pumpkins we had gotten free from a local farmer the fall before, were Genetically Modified Pumpkins- altered to produce prolific pumpkins if fed with the 'designer's' chemical fertilizer and modified to produce seeds that were useless, if planted later. Millions and millions* of pumpkins are carefully selected each year to bring into our homes for eating and decoration. While these 'Terminator Gene' seeds assure the company annual sales of their seeds and fertilizers, thereby keeping their coffers full and the farmers dependent on their supplies, what are they doing to our bodies? What are they doing to our soils?
Sadly, we learned the truth. Although we were selective about our gift, some of those beautiful, big pumpkins we had gotten free from a local farmer the fall before, were Genetically Modified Pumpkins- altered to produce prolific pumpkins if fed with the 'designer's' chemical fertilizer and modified to produce seeds that were useless, if planted later. Millions and millions* of pumpkins are carefully selected each year to bring into our homes for eating and decoration. While these 'Terminator Gene' seeds assure the company annual sales of their seeds and fertilizers, thereby keeping their coffers full and the farmers dependent on their supplies, what are they doing to our bodies? What are they doing to our soils?
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 1Timothy 6:10
Those heavy, robust vines took Mom two afternoons of heaving, hefting and pulling to get out of her garden. They were VERY heavy! They had sucked a lot of life out of our rich soils only to produce a mess of poky, thick green vines and leaves - which although pretty - was a veritable enemy. That plant did not produce the way the ORIGINAL Creator designed. For, if it had, how could a company patent that life?? Oh, how Satan is working diligently to replace the life giving beauty of our Lord's creation, with the mark of his pride and enslavement through men's greed. This little lesson taught us the importance of choosing and using non-GM/heirloom seeds, the very real state of our world because of these companies, and stirred deeper contemplation of our future goals for the family.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:11-12
*In 2012, nearly 12.4 million cwt of pumpkins, up from 10.7 million cwt in 2011, were harvested from 47,800 acres. Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (http://www.agmrc.org/commodities__products/vegetables/pumpkins/)
Interested in growing a lot of pumpkins, organically? Take a look at what ATTRA shares here.
Interested in growing a lot of pumpkins, organically? Take a look at what ATTRA shares here.