North Star Orchard Blog

I’ve gotten to try lots of cool jobs while I’ve been here on the farm, and there are lots of things to do here that I love. I love planting and washing and thinning and even sometimes (shh, don’t tell!) . . . weeding. But my favorite job, out of all the ones I’ve gotten to try, is harvesting.

Today, I learned all about tomatoes. Did you know that there are two different kinds of tomato plants? I didn’t until Farmer Ike told me.

All tomato plants are divided into two categories: determinate and indeterminate. Those are big words, aren’t they? They’re hard for me to say! Try saying them slowly . . . it helps. After you figure it out, it’s not so bad. I promise.

Guess what I helped plant today! Look at the picture and see if you can figure it out. Grass? Nope, guess again! Onions? No, but you’re getting closer! These are baby leeks! Farmer Kelly and her helpers went out early this morning to plant them, and I got to help.

We worked hard today. Really hard.

When we planted the tomatoes a few weeks ago, we put down rows of plastic in the field. The plastic keeps the weeds from growing around the plants, and it helps protect their roots. But we only put the plastic down where we planted tomatoes, which means that the paths between the rows where the farmers walk are empty, and even though they get walked on a lot by work boots and little sheep feet, weeds can still grow there. Which means that we have to cover it up with straw to keep the weeds from getting enormous.