TGF's blog

As a new week dawns over Harvard we want to thank everyone for a great opening weekend for TGF Mirai®. It was so good to meet up again with old friends and make many new ones both right here in Harvard and at the many farmers markets. The weather, which discussion of is the norm for this year, was again a challenge with many storms throughout the area. We needed the rain so bad and thank God for it. Keep your “ears” up for news of our upcoming TGF corn recipe book soon to be published and available throughout the area.

Have a great and safe week!

What else is there to say? TGF Mirai® OPENING DAY in HARVARD-WEDNESDAY JULY 20! 10:00 am.

Looking forward to seeing everyone!

By the end of this weekend the web site “Countdown to Corn” will be in single digits. Keep a close eye on the web site and Facebook as everyone knows we cannot pick the TGF Mirai® early and must wait until it is ready. Predictions are dangerous and the day could slightly change one way or the other. Stay tuned.

When will TGF Mirai® be ready? Vicki and I love getting the calls and emails with this question and enjoy even more the chance to talk with our customers. Locally, sweet corn is normally (when do we have normal?) available around July 20. You might find some earlier varieties that are, I guess you could say, just sweet corn and that might even be a stretch. There have been years where the sweet corn wasn’t ready until the first of August and years like last where we started around the 15th.

The vegetable garden is coming along very nicely. Jenny and her crew have been working long hours, both, planting and harvesting. The weather has been very favorable for the veggies and unfortunately, for the weeds also. Thinking about it, what is the definition of a weed? "A plant that is in a place you don’t want it", so I guess they deserve a spot too.

The TGF Mirai® is also coming along very nicely and I hope to shave a couple of days off of “Countdown to Corn” on our web site, don’t want to do it prematurely though.

How much time do we spend watching and talking about the weather? Farmers have always had a keen interest in the weather because it has a huge impact on every part of our business whether it be crops, animals, current markets, future markets-you name it. Do you find yourself more in tuned to the weather? Why? In my opinion our manner of gathering and having access to real time and immediate information has changed dramatically. I have a Droid X and I can look at real time weather within seconds any time I want.

Finally the weather seems to have settled in to some semblance of normal if normal is even an option anymore? This week was very productive on the farm. We finished planting Soybeans, most of the sweet corn seed plantings are right on schedule with populations looking very good and, most importantly, Cliff planted the next plantings of TGF Mirai®.

I feel like I’ve purchased a season pass to the amusement park with the biggest roller coaster. What a ride this spring has been. The start has been very interesting but nothing compared to the dangerous situations many parts of our country have had to deal with. I can’t imagine the devastation from the enormous amounts of rain and the killer tornados that many of our friends have dealt with. Here on the farm we have had frost and 88 degrees, all within this past week. Overall the crops are looking very nice but as everyone knows, they are a little behind.

Hey everyone, Vicki here. A big THANK YOU to all of the home gardeners who bought TGF-Mirai® Sweet Corn seed. There sure were a lot of you this year and that is GREAT! Twin Garden Farms wishes you a great growing season. Our spring here in Harvard, IL has been off to a slow start between dealing with cool temperatures and rain. We may have to combine forces with our home gardeners to have enough sweet corn to sell in July. If you need additional help growing your sweet corn please see our website under the “Grow your own TGF-Mirai® Sweet Corn” section. Happy Gardening!

Our first “Ear to the Ground” blog for 2011 dedicated to Marla! So what went on this past week? Jenny planted several different vegetables, including everyone’s favorite yellow/orange cherry tomatoes and also began transplanting flowers. We actually needed to irrigate the lettuce which is hard to imagine with what others are having to deal with, rain and flooding. Cliff finished field corn, started soybeans, planted several male and female “timing” plantings in the seed fields and of course planted the next patch of TGF Mirai.