Borage anyone?

Something very exciting happened the other day- the borage came out! (and I am it's number 1 fan)

Borago officinalis or "Starflower" is an herb that can be use in a few different ways. Traditionally cultivated for medicinal or culinary uses, it now is used for make oilseed as well. Here at SVF we plan on harvesting it for Chuck and Augies (...and ourselves) as a beautiful, edible, flavorful (cucumber like taste) garnish. Indulging in the flowers was so new to me! It's like flower-candy.

Getting my first taste on camera:

An older flower:

Younger flowers appear pinker, like this one. 

Always something new at the farm to make you appreciate the small things... 

Try planting it at home for a guaranteed, "oooooh ahhhhh!"

Farm Makeover: Hoophouse Edition

So... check this out. We trellised our tomatoes a couple weeks back. Pretty innovative, cool technique if you ask me. What we did was take some heavy duty string, tied it from post to post of the ceiling in the hoop house, and then took twine from that, and hung it down from the ceiling and posted it down into the ground. The tomatoes now have a friend to hug as they grow nice and tall!

Some pictures will totally help you visualize it way better than my vague description:

Here is a technical pic or two to give you an idea of how we constructed it. 

Check out them knots! That's some fine craftsmanship.

At the ground, just secured the twine into the ground

Tie those knots, girl!
This is me showing off my handiwork, and below is Tyler shying away from my lens. We made a pretty good tomato-trellis squad.

                   fin.                 

We (or me atleast) was super pumped up about the new looks of the hoop haus... 

(don't laugh!)

The only thing that wasn't too happy about the whole occurrence was this guy... 

We miiiiight of stepped on him once or twice.

But, I'll have you know this tomato has grown into a big fluffy thriving tomato, so fear not. 

Still so much to catch you up on in regards to the farm, so keep visiting our site! Summer is a busy time in the world of ag. Gotta keep you up to date!