Another visit to Three Sisters Farm

The Cookeville Master Gardener's group made a field trip last week to Three Sisters Farm near Cookeville.  The farm has a booth every Saturday at the Cookeville farmer's market.  There really are three sisters who do the work of growing the vegetables, along with their mother.

Here is Ashley, welcoming the group to the farm:

The first thing I noticed was baby figs growing on a fig tree. I think Wendy said it was a Brown Turkey fig:

Nearby was a companion plant to figs, arugula.  In Italy, figs are often served with arugula.  The arugula had been under a low tunnel or hoop house, which you can see in the background.

The vegetable garden is laid out in neat wide rows with mowed paths.

Although it was pretty hot that evening, everybody enjoyed walking around and looking at all the food.  We saw tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, okra, peppers, gourds, and these interesting long beans.

Long beans are in the same family with black-eyed peas, and they are easier to grow in hot weather than regular beans.  Insects don't seem to bother them. Some of them are almost two feet long!

Another unusual vegetable we saw was this red okra:

The farm also grows and sells flowers. The sunflowers were particularly spectacular when we visited.

Some of us went down to the barn to see some new baby goats.  They were very sweet and tame, and you could pick them up and cuddle them and kiss their lips, and they didn't mind at all, even though both were billies.

These two little billies are twins.

After the tour we had watermelon, and chips and salsa, and we sat in the shade and talked.  Trevor told me about his deer hunting plans for fall, and he climbed up into a deer stand in the backyard.