It has been quite a while since I last posted.  Between keeping up with grandchildren, grass and weeds, I don’t know what grows faster!

We tried something a bit different this year to keep weeds/grass down in the fields.  Suppress herbicide is an OMRI approved burn-down product for grass and weeds in Organic operations.  It worked well, but did not last the entire season.   We will have to plan for more of it now that we have experimented with it.   In the areas we sprayed, the weeds/grass are not as heavy.  We continue to live and learn as we grow.  So now we are out pulling, clipping, and trimming in the fields.  We are “feeling” every single weed and our age.  If we didn’t feel so strongly about the health benefits or organics and if I wasn’t so sensitive, believe me in the middle of a field at 93 degrees with a high heat index, it would be so tempting.   But it won’t happen.

We are watching the berries begin to turn red and some purple and wondering about the timing this year.  Things seem to be maturing earlier than usual by a couple of weeks.

This year we are hoping to have fresh berries on the bushes for the Warren County Farm Tour’s second year.   We are hoping to have berries on the bushes for folks to pick their own, if Mother Nature cooperates.   The WCFT last year brought between 600-800 folks to our farm to learn more about Aronia.  We were overwhelmed.   In preparation for this year, we are planning better and hoping August 28th is a beautiful day!  We also hope folks come hungry, I’ve been baking Aronia breads, pies, and making jam/jellies.