An Abundant Summer

I'm pleased to report that things are popping up all over the Nola farm dispite the enormous lack of rain. It has indeed been a hot, dry growing season in Mt. Airy, Maryland but we're trudging on through. Irrigation has become a daily duty in order to keep our heirloom tomatoes healthy and beautiful and it has definitely paid off. We've been fortunate enough to offer dinner specials from our garden nightly throughout the summer. It's an amazing feeling. We've had so many heirloom tomatoes recently that weve been able to use them during lunch at Nola as well as dinner. Wes, Seanna and the rest of our amazing kitchen crew make selling our veggies even easier by preparing some mouth-watering dishes straight from the garden. I love selling something that I'm growing... there's no other feeling like it.

Nola has farming in her veins now. There are signs of our project everywhere you look; from Wes's specials to Alex and Kevins farm-fresh alcohol infusions. We're even displaying vivid photos of the farm all over our walls courtesy of our friend Brad Barwell. It's a creative endeavor that has given alot of us a chance to add something beautiful to something already amazing.

It's getting to be that time of year, however, to begin looking ahead into the fall planting season. I'm getting ready to place a couple of orders for carrot, beets, spinach, and a few other things. I usually go through a couple of regional companies when purchasing seeds. Baker Creek Heirlooms, High Mowing, and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange are great resources. Keeping heirloom varieties alive is an important thing... I like contributing. We got a good feel for what cool-weather veggies Nola uses most of during the spring season. That helps when planning what to grow in the fall. Instead of growing with diversity in mind, I'm going to aim at succession and a steady influx of a select few veggies, ie: multi-colored carrots, spinach, arugula, and funky beets. We're going to build a few small hoop-houses this fall as well, in order to see how long we can extend our growing season. I'll keep the blog updated with photos and progress reports.

For photos of the farm mid-summer, click on our photo page:

Till next time