I'd rather get paid in food than money

ahhh, Michigan weather...today has been a beautiful example of the schizophrenic meteorological happenings in this Great Lakes state....the day as it has unfolded....beautiful sunny 72 for the morning, 5 minute INTENSE thunderstorm in which both Vera (my dog) and I freaked out but were loving it (well I was, Vera was shaking, poor thing), then the sun comes back in and now its just off and on....

well at least we got a little bit of rain, it really has been a very dry spring. I'm so glad I was able to get some irrigation for the market garden, it has been very necessary.

I got some additional lettuce transplants from the Garden Resource Program to fill in the gaps in my beds...definitely will need to grow more transplants for the fall planting. I think I've been been working/planning under the assumption that my beds are ~60 feet long and I don't think that's true. Especially because I got 65ft long pieces of row cover for them and a few of the beds are longer than that...must get out the measuring tape. always best to over estimate in farming then under.

the white scallions are coming long nicely and I'll be doing another planting of a red variety this week. I'm kinda excited about these "Red Baron" scallions them seem much more hardy then the "Parade" variety I already planted...the leaves are quite a bit thicker, so hopefully they do well...they'll look beautiful on the market table!

the second planting of spinach is coming up very nicely...much thicker than the first and I think it will be a really great seller at market.

the garlic continues to grow like mad and I can't wait for scapes! If you haven't had garlic scape pesto you've got to try it...soooo good!

our family garden is also doing really well...this warm weather and all the rain over the weekend and the cold crop transplants are twice as big as before...plus I have them under row cover which is protecting them from the flea beetles and giving them a little extra warmth during the night. Our peas are well established and I put some stakes in today...will need to decide soon how I want to trellis them, I have some poly twine but I need that for the tomatoes...so maybe I could get some netting from GRP. We've also got baby lettuce, carrots, chard, spinach, radishes, orach and beets coming up. I LOVE having a family garden...it is nice to get paid for your hard work but I think I'd rather get paid in food than money :)