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Consider the Egg
How's it growing?
I've been to the Mill City Farmers Market over the last two weekends. I'm very happy with the blue sheep's cheese from Shepherd's Way Farms and the great-for-ice-cream milk from Cedar Summit Farms. I was going to give it one more weekend and blog about my planned yak's meat purchase, but now there's Gertrude.
I bought an heirloom tomato plant, and because I can't remember what kind it was I've dubbed her Gertrude. I know I'm late to the planting game. I can't seem to get my act together this year, even for the ultimate reward of fresh tomatoes. But there she sits in a giant terra cotta pot on my patio, sunning herself far away from the greedy, evil bambies and bunnies. And now I worry.
Is she getting enough sun or too much? How many times a day should I be watering and if it rains what does that do to the watering schedule? Maybe it's because I have this one and only plant that I'm obsessing. Maybe it's because I feel that as a food person, I should be able to bring forth food from the earth with aplomb and grace.
In an effort to find out Gertrude's lineage, I began scouring the websites of the vendors for the market. Maybe I'd recognize a name, a farm logo, something to jog my caffeine addled brain.
That's how I found Gardens of Eagan and their farmer blogs. I'm riveted by Atina Diffley's passionate race to save organic fields from the pipeline. But I'm nearly addicted to Laura Ferich's telling of the second year on her Loon Organics farm. Her love of eating what she's growing, the guarded excitement over the purchase of farm equipment, concern for bugs and all that needs to be done in a scant 18 hour day has me hooked.
Most people don't know about the toil that goes into farming, even now that small farms and organics are becoming chic. It's like the chef thing: the splashy media doesn't really want to talk about time spent cleaning squid.
The more I read about all they do to make a life out of organic farming, the more I feel that Gertrude's going to be just fine....
2 Reader Comments
I water my toms every day, except on days when it rains. However, yours being in a pot, I'd just stick my finger down to the second joint to make certain its wet--also be sure that your pot can allow old, stagnant water to drain away. I also feed the beast vile smelling organic fish food that I bought at Mother Earth Gardens in Mpls. There's never too much sun for a tomato plant, but there can be too little.
And: wabbits don't eat tomato plants.
I have eight tomato plants in pots out front since I have no garden area to speak of. This is the third year for me....the first was so cool and damp that they barely grew and the tomatoes were watery. The second we had a drought and I not only had to water constantly, but all my yellows had blossom end rot so I had to spray for that.
This year, they are thriving, and I have tons of flowers and little bitty tomatoes. :) We water about every other day unless it rains.
We get veggies every week through our CSA and we've visited his farm. It is amazing how much hard labor goes into it, but how rewarding!
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