All of the veggies this fall have been growing great! Our current crops include carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbage, peas, garlic, squash, lettuce, spinach, and pumpkins. The first planting of lettuce and spinach are ready to harvest, and the carrots should be ready in a few weeks. There is also leftover eggplant and basil from the spring that we have been harvesting. Although the recent cold snap did damage some of the plants (mostly the pumpkins and squash), it appears they will survive.

Our second crop of Sonora wheat was planted this past week. This variety is easy to care for, provides a nice yield, and the freshly ground grain adds delicious flavor to baked goods. This year, we planted a slightly larger area, approximately 15′ x 35′. The planting area was prepared by first tilling the ground and raking out clumps of grass. Then we used a garden seeder to plant the seeds 1.5 inches apart, 2 inches deep, in rows about 6 inches apart. The ground was raked level and the area was watered with a large rotating sprinkler.

One thing we learned last year is that threshing wheat is extremely labor intensive. To avoid manually processing the grain come harvest time, we are planning to build a DIY threshing machine, so stay tuned! Hopefully this year’s crop turns out as well as last year’s!