Who likes to wait for anything? Nobody! That’s why Kelly and I were hard at work in the greenhouse during February and March. We started lot of seeds, watched then sprout and watched the weather reports to determine when we could transplant them. We were eager to get to summer!
This Spring, we had lots of rainy days. Rain means a lot of different things on the farm than in the city. We love it because rain is evaporated seawater, and it contains lots of trace minerals that plants need. It also means that most planting waits for another 48 hours while the soil absorbs water and dries. Lots of rain meant lots of waiting.
After we finally transplanted our precious peppers, tomatoes and eggplants… more waiting. See, these plants have tropical origins, so they love heat. So do melons and squashes. We have had exactly one day in July when the temperature reached 90F. One.
So… we wait. Kelly and I have been dreaming of tomatoes since our seed catalogs started to arrive in December. I can still remember the aroma of a Cherokee Purple, hot from the midday sun, bursting with juice and flavor. The texture of an honest, ripe tomato. It almost makes me tear up. Sniff.
As farmers and eaters, we choose foods for their flavor, their genetic diversity and their visual appeal. We don’t grow hybrids. We don’t grow “early” anything. It means that we wait. The weather has pushed us behind, to be sure, but our Nebraska Summer will come through. I hope.
Bring on the heat!
-Brian
