farm notes 9.27.23

I grew husk cherries for the first time this year and my new son-in-law lovingly refers to them as veggie-berries. I'm not sure how I feel about them, personally, but they are disappearing quickly out of the bowl on the counter, so that makes me happy. Remind me to plant 2-3 next year, 8 plants is overwhelming by September! Ha!It's been such a rainy summer, and the nasturtium have loved it, I've never had them climb over fencing like they have this year! The raspberries are also abundant and it's the first year we've had plenty for breakfasts and snacks and also enough for several batches of jam, my favorite. I even made a raspberry liqueur! Raspberries were my great-grandmother's favorite berry as well and I have fond memories of picking her bowls full from our patch in the yard each morning when she came to visit us in Alaska one summer.Last spring I ordered potato & onion starts from Keene Organics. I have been SO happy with the quality of both, I'm not sure I'll ever start onions from seed again! I tested several varieties of both, looking for the easiest to care for with the biggest harvests. These were my favorite: ONIONS & LEEKSLancelot Leeks, Monastrell Onions, Sedona OnionsPOTATOESGerman Butterball + Peter Wilcox Lastly, I finally got a decent strawberry bed established and I'm really happy with the everbearing variety. If I were excited to make strawberry jam, I would definitely want a June-bearing strawberry - but for now I'm happy with a quart or two most weeks all season long.I guess that's it for now.xo,s