The colors of harvesting in August.

The August harvest brings about a special excitement. It awakens our senses to the taste, sight and smell of vegetables we haven’t had for a year. We always long for those first tomatoes picked in the warm sunshine destined for salads or sandwiches. Sungold cherry tomatoes popped directly into one’s mouth like candy.

But wait, something is amiss! There are other creatures who also have been watching, eager to taste our ripening fruits.

Those darn crows remembered last year’s tasty treats and have descended on us once again. Unfortunately, we have had to pick our tomatoes while extremely underripe, allowing them to turn red, yellow, and purple under the protection of the seedling greenhouse. It is frustrating for all of us to see those black birds watching in a nearby tree, waiting for us to leave so they can help themselves to what we leave unguarded.

It was the day Genevieve and I walked over to Left Field for only a few minutes to come back and find them in the elderberry bushes. “Go away!” we yelled, but that barely made them scatter. Exasperated, I said “That’s it, I have had enough. I am ordering a couple of dead crow decoys!”
The crow decoys arrived a few days later. I hung them up and was very pleased with myself when I was able to go out and harvest a vine-ripened tomato! It only took a couple of days for me to sadly watch several crows land next to the “dead” bird and ignore it.

Tomatoes: Crows 1 / Theda 0.

Now the crows only scare unsuspecting volunteers whom I have forgotten to forewarn. Sorry friends.

Genevieve has to wrap up our favorite sunflowers from the crows.

Sunflowers: Theda 1 / Crows 0 🙂

Now on to other colorful farm news.

Yellow for squash and sunflowers.

Red for tomatoes and peppers.

Orange for carrots and pumpkins.

Green for green beans, celery and watermelon.

Watermelon: Crows 2 / Theda 0

Yes, the crows have moved on to our watermelon patches, but not before Vera and I harvested a 12 pounder and shared it with the volunteers. We have been able to send out hundreds of pounds of watermelon so all is not lost. Darn crows.

Pink is for flowers, Cora’s favorite color.

We have lots of colorful flowers for bouquet making. Dodie continues to pick and deliver bouquets to homebound folks and Christine picks for Morning Glory for donation. Come pick for yourself or a friend and enjoy the brilliant late summer colors.

It’s also seed-saving time, when we open up and scoop out those heirloom tomato, pepper, and watermelon seeds.

 

All our incredible interns, except Tim, have left us to head back to school. Luckily Tim will be with us once or twice a week through the fall season. This is crunch time for us at G2G: We are busy with the harvests while attending to all the fall chores, planting cover crops and late season crops, dismantling all the trellising systems, weeding, mowing, fertilizing, and spreading wood chips and compost. Thanks to all of you who give so much of your time already with these tasks. If you haven’t been for awhile or are a new volunteer, don’t be shy! The weather has been perfect to be outside volunteering and we are a fun and welcoming group of all ages 3-93.

I haven’t even mentioned that we reached our 100,000 pound milestone (since our founding in 2017) in August. All of those fun 3-93 year-old volunteers made that happen!

We have a fundraising event coming soon: Brickyard Hollow in Brunswick has selected G2G for its Community Night on Tuesday September 17th from 5:00 – 9:00pm. 5% of sales will benefit G2G. Hope to see you there!

Wendi has been our main supplier of cardboard for quite awhile. With all our school groups coming to help spread wood chips we will need a lot more. If anyone else has access to brown cardboard boxes with black ink we would greatly appreciate it. Tape removed will get you a sincere thank you from all of us.

August seemed to fly by. I’m happy the excessive heat is over and we can enjoy the glorious season ahead. Please come to the farm and enjoy a few hours with us.

Always grateful,

Theda