08/29/2026
Saturday snapshots from around the farm this week. Life has been a beautiful mix of summer and fall, especially in the garden.
The apples are coming in slowly now. We also cleaned up a portion of the apple tree that broke about two weeks ago and I tried to salvage what we could from the tree. It doesn’t feel like much but I should be able to make an Apple crisp from it.
My first Mortgage Lifter Tomatoes started to blush too so I grabbed snatched those off the vine as quickly as I could. You might notice I often pick my tomatoes at first blush. I prefer picking them at this point versus waiting until they are vine ripened. There’s a few reasons I do this.
1. This usually allows me to get the tomatoes before any little critters start munch on them.
2. It helps to prevent cracking that can happen as they fully vine ripen, especially after a large rain.
3. Picking them before they fully ripen on does not change the flavor. Once the fruit stops growing in size and starts to ripen it reaches what is called the breaker stage. It seals itself off from the vine and the fruit uses self-produced ethylene to finish ripening. All the sugars and flavor are already locked in. It will finish ripening on your counter and taste just the same.
Also, I’m excited to see what progress this little monarch caterpillar makes on my blackberry blush. This little moment was a spectacular capture yesterday just before she starts to spin her cocoon. Today when I walked outside there it was. Such a magical thing to be able to capture.
