Emmy and I had our first tomato harvest of the season yesterday.

It seems just as we get things under control, something new pops up to challenge our being able to get everything done!

Mondays are our day go on a field walk, see what needs to be done for the coming week, plan for it, get some office work done and now. . .harvest cucurbits AND tomatoes.

We harvest cucurbits three times a week to keep up with their ripening. We will start doing the same with tomatoes. While cucumbers/zucchini/summer squash will become over-mature very quickly if left on the vine or plant, tomatoes keep for longer on the plants without over ripening. The main reason we need to try to keep up with them is the competition to get to them first.

I’ve seen evidence of voles, bunnies and squirrels eating ripe tomatoes. Last week in the learning garden I saw my first instance of crows eating tomatoes. Yesterday Emmy saw one fly away with a cherry tomato in it’s beak.

This isn’t great. Crows are highly intelligent birds and I’m not sure how we’ll keep them at bay. For now, we’ll continue picking tomatoes every other day and hope we get them before the crows do!