Crops that Get Me Going

There is no doubt about it. We are vegetable people (if we weren't before, we pretty much have to be now). But we can't all love each crop equally, especially when there is so much variety. We each have our favorites. The favorites are usually crops that end up being favored out in the field. They get the most care and attention, the most water, the most coaching and the most praise. But don't feel sorry for the other veggies. With 4 farmers on the site, we pretty much have all of the crops covered off (except fennel...no one seemed to babysit that crop this year, nor the green onions unfortunately).

Without further ado, here are my picks for my 2010 most favorite crops at Skeeter Farm.

Tomatillos (inside the lantern) because they are fun to gently squish to check out big they are

Melons (this one is either a cantaloupe or honeydew) because they are resilient! (survival credits include slugs, bunnies and 50 plus degree temps in the greenhouse earlier this year)

Ground Cherries - same idea as the tomatillos, but these ones technically pass as a fruit

Okra - definitely not for the texture (one of my least favorites for that), but for the beautiful flowers that are only open for a day - none open tonight

Peppers - the one on the left for its sheer beauty and the one on the right for its future as a chili relleno

tomatoes - possibly the grand prize of any summer garden. This one I like for its resemblance to a pumpkin (the tomatoes need another week of coaching before they ripen up)

Eggplant - for its appropriateness on a barbeque, and as mentioned previously, for the beautiful flowers

Amaranth - for its multipurposefulness - you can eat the leaves as salad, use the flowers in bouquets and harvest grain near the end of its life

Celery - because I tasted some the other day and it was the most delicious celery I have ever tasted.

Chickpeas - I was really excited about this crop until I saw this evening that every plant has been grazed from the top down like the photo on the right (bad animals!)

Red onions  - because of the colour (which is hard to see in the photo - a brilliant fuchsia