Our okra is still going strong, and this morning’s pick was especially nice, made up mostly of small pickling-sized pods. If you have been looking for picklers, this is your chance. Sure, they will slice up and make a great batch of fried okra, but…just saying. The last few days our okra has slowed down a bit, first because we needed some rain, then because of cooler temperatures. Now that we got about an inch of rain a couple of days ago, and since the sun has come out and the temperature has risen a couple of days, okra is back in the summer swing. It will not last forever, however; fall is coming, and shorter days have an effect on all plant life. Slowly but surely our okra is winding down. There is nothing to worry about. There will be plenty okra for the next four or five weeks, but then when it is gone… it is gone. Don’t be sorry you waited too long.
Our third planting of Yellow Squash and Zucchini have kicked and is benefiting from that inch of rain we recently received. We have plenty. Come and get it. We do our best to pick daily, so you won’t find any green baseball bats at High-Fence Farm.
For those of you true Southerners, we also have a small supply of Black Eyed Peas (Pink Eye Purple Hull, to be exact. Isn’t that a name?). We try to pick them young so they are all snappers and very few shellers. Supplies are limited. We love these better than our green snap beans. Those of you familiar with all cow peas is that the pods are more “fuzzy” than green beans, so that when you cook them they hold more butter or broth or stew soup. You get the idea. We love the flavor.
And now for the freebee: we have a small Paw Paw tree that has been producing for a couple of weeks and we would like to share some of that abundance with any customer who comes out to buy our other produce. Quench your curiosity and take one or two on us. They have a custard-like texture and a sweet flavor like nothing else on earth. We eat them fresh right out of the skin with a spoon. You will be amazed at the size of the seeds inside. Plant the seeds about 10 feet apart in an out of the way place and in a few years you will have a tidy small tree that will produce Paw Paws for you in late July-early August. More than one tree is needed for successful pollination in most instances.
