We ate all the radishes and need to plant more. Salad forms the base for all our dinners. We can eat nothing but salads now that we are not enticing Irene’s appetite. We have no trouble inhaling whatever comes our way!

The popcorn made it through the crates Michael built. Because it is a heritage variety, it tends to lodge (fall over) in high winds. The crates help keep it upright. The beets will be ready in another week or two. We are still waiting for our first peas and beans. We have had good rain, but days that swing between hot and cool.

The winter squash want to take over the world. We need to keep them out of the field this year, as the oats and barley will ripen before the pumpkins will.

Tomatoes have set fruit. August should see them ripen. Eggplant will come in at about the same time. My mouth is watering already.

I am particularly proud that the potatoes look this good. Even though we moved them away from the beetle infested ground, the beetles are mobile. They found our potatoes.

We patrol the patch almost every day. We crunch the mature beetles, lift up leaves looking for those conveniently colored egg clusters, remove them, and squish any of the grubs that have already hatched. It is a lot of stoop labor, but it is the only way to control this particular pest. Left alone, they strip plants to the ground.

We harvested the broilers today. They were about 7 pounds each. We will leave a couple of the broilers we ordered for early August until they are in the 10 pound range for holiday dinners.

We recruited help picking and chopping the 36 pounds of rhubarb that is now sitting downstairs, fermenting into wine.

It can never be too early to introduce the Grand Guy into the delightfulness of rhubarb.

That way he can teach his cousin how it’s done!