Sunshine, on my shoulders, makes me happy :)

What a beautiful, eventful week here at Sunny Hill. The warm weather has made such a difference in the crops this last week. But with the warm weather comes more work, which we were ready to take on!! Welcome to Summer, Wisconsin!!

Let's start with everyone's favorite subject this time of year...STRAWBERRIES.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Strawberry plants are a lot of fun to watch during the harvest season. During this time you’ll see strawberries in many different stages of development: they start as flowers, then become tiny green berries, then larger green berries, then big white berries and finally beautiful, ripe, red berries. With the cold spring we've had, the strawberries are finally to the flowering stage. After the flowers bloom, it usually takes about one month (anticipated starting date: June 26) before the strawberries are ripe. Though this is exciting, it will take a lot of work between now and then for them to be ready. Because strawberries, though very delicious, are a very stubborn plant ;)

Strawberries prefer a well drained soil, high in organic matter. They need full sun for the best possible results, at least 6 hours per day. Strawberries also need about one inch of water per week during the growing season. Translation:  We need lots of sunshine, warmth, and a steady amount of rain over the next 4-5 weeks or we need to be working round the clock to properly irrigate and make sure the strawberries are kept warm. So, this summer when you pick that perfect, yummy berry, know that it took a lot of things, to go just right, to make it so.

The peas have also grown a lot since the last post. Though, they are more of a fan of cooler weather, they have still been soaking up the sun and forming their biomass.

The corn has been coming up nicely as well. Of course, most of the crops are behind from last year because of the cold spring. But with the beautiful weather this last week, the plants collected as much of the sunshine as they could. Because, after all, we do live in Wisconsin...there may be a snowstorm right around the corner. Just Kidding...;)

The onions haven't changed very much. But they did get some more height since the last time we updated on them. They still have a ways to go though, but they are a midsummer crop. So, we'll just continue to watch and wait.

With the beautiful weather we were able to till the land to make way for new plants. This week was tomatoes. We spent most of our time transplanting tomato plants. Though it is not as precise and difficult as transplanting strawberries it is still very time consuming. But its all worth it, once we see those big, beautiful tomatoes.

The Tomato plants are ready to go!

So, that is our update for this beautiful week. We pray that weather continues to be warm and sunny for the weeks to come. Because, believe it or not, we are craving those sweet strawberries as well!

Finally, the woods is reflecting its summer beauty.

Till next time!!

~Sunny Hill Farm