First corn harvest 2007 - This is how it's done; 8 grown ups, 3 kids, one pick up and trailer and Skipper to supervise.  This was the first harvest of 2007 and it  was HOT and HUMID!  It is only about 8 am, but we were sweating BEFORE we even  started to work.  Best job?  Sitting on top of the truck taking pictures!

Taa Daa!  Bags of corn, ready to be put on the trailer.  The field is so long that you can't see the end of the row over the hill, but it goes way past the tree.  By now, its 10:30-ish and we are all wet from the moisture that comes off  the corn.  Oh, and sweat.  We'll take a break for lunch and re-group to finish picking everything else that we bring to the market.

2006 Red Sails 4 - Early Red Sails Lettuce under row cover with drip irrigation

Broccoli - Favorite of kids everywhere!  After the main head is cut, florets will continue to grow on the sides of the main stem. 

Eggplant -  Oriental type eggplant on the plant.  Where possible, we plant using the plastic mulch to keep down weeds and conserve moisture.

Freckles Romaine -  This is Freckles, a type of romaine lettuce.  Lettuces, spinach and some of the early root crops are about the only things not grown on plastic mulch.  They are ready early enough in the season that weeds aren’t quite a problem.

Sweet Corn -  It’s not very exciting to look at, but this is what our famous sweet corn looks like in the field.  Most of the corn is grown at our Manito farm.  Each stalk has 2 ears.  Once you pick the ears, you are done with the plant.  After the plants dry out, we shred it down and most of it gets plowed back into the ground.

Peppers - Green peppers on the plant.  Peppers are incredibly difficult to start from seeds, even with grow lights and greenhouses.  They like very warm soil temperatures, hot days and warm, humid nights.  Even with the best of conditions, here in Central Illinois, peppers usually aren’t ready to be picked until mid- to late July.

Children of the Corn - Everybody is assigned a row, grabs 3 or 4 burlap bags and  starts picking.  The challenge?  Pick faster than Bill or Karen.  They pick so  fast, they aren't even in the picture.  They are at the end of the 1/4 mile row drinking water.  Poor Dee and Randy are still picking!  As we pick, we put about 5 to 7 dozen ears in a bag, then take the bag out of the field to lane for pick  up.

2006 Transplants -  Cantaloupe transplants in the greenhouse waiting to go to the field

Cantaloupe on plastic - These are cantaloupe after about 2 weeks on the plastic.  The plastic mulch helps keep the soil moist and warm and the weeds from choking the plants. Until the plants send out their runners, we will till or mow between the rows to keep the weeds down.

Cantaloupe -  This is our 6’ trailer full of cantaloupe ready for a Saturday market in Downtown Bloomington.

Greenhouse -  This is our free-standing greenhouse.  We have 3 greenhouses in all.  One was on the property when Bill & his family moved here in 1972 and the other was a chicken barn that we renovated into greenhouse space in 2006.  All these plants are watermelon.  The empty trays are seeds that have just been planted.

Tomatoes - These tomatoes are just starting to ripen. We grow a wide variety of tomatoes such as Better Boys and Beefmasters to heirloom varieties like Cherokee Purple and Azoychka, a yellow heirloom from Russia. 
Radishes - Radishes, cleaned and ready to be sold!

Sweet Onions - 2006 was our first year of growing sweet onions, not knowing if we could be successful growing them or if anyone would buy them. We had about 1/8 of an acre of onions and could have used more!  Onions seemed to like our sandy soil.  You can see the drip tape irrigation behind the row of onions and all the weeds that also enjoy a good watering, too.

Yellow Squash -  Baby yellow squash with its blossom still attached,  As the fruit matures, the blossom will dry up and fall off. Squash will keep producing fruits as long as you keep picking!  You can see two smaller squashes in the background. Incredibly enough, we probably picked this squash two days after this picture was taken.  Yes, they really do grow that fast!