Today’s Vegetable Harvest

I suppose it has been a week since the last vegetable harvest, at least for the pole beans. Today I walked away from our garden at Farm Chastain with enough beans for the family, 3 ears of Silver Queen corn, and one of Silver King. I also picked a cucumber for Martha and some squash for this week. The corn was a little early to be picked but it sure was good. I think it has another 10 days of fattening up to go, but I ran across several worms which made me nervous so I went ahead and picked some for dinner. Picking the green beans is a challenge for sure, they are super healthy so there is a ton of foliage to get through to find the beans.

I am most proud of the corn. If I were to be stranded on an island it would be a must have for me. You can also see a yellow pepper in the picture above. It needs a couple of days to sweeten up, but also looked in danger of getting eaten up out there, so I went ahead and picked.

We had two watermelons growing nicely only to come back today to find them totally rotted out. Not sure what got to them, but they were super nasty. I'll spare you that picture.

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

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Runnemede Row at Farm Chastain

This year my friend Peyton McWhirter and I have been working a garden at Farm Chastain, part of the Chastain Park Conservancy. Life has gotten in the way of me posting about it from the beginning, but you can catch up through pictures at http://www.carsonmatthewsphotography.com/ChastainParkConservancy/Runnemede-Row-Farm-Chastain/

Today we got back from a week at the beach and things are coming along nicely. We definitely have a squirrel problem, and as a result no tomatoes. We probably have 100 on the vine, but they are eaten well before becoming ripe.

The corn is pretty impressive to someone that hasn’t grown corn before. We have two rows of Silver Queen and the back row is Silver King. In the last week it has grown at least a foot and ears of corn have emerged everywhere.

Moving to the left and pretty much taking over all available space is the watermelon. At my last visit our first melon was the size of a fat cucumber, today it’s the size of a rugby ball.

To the left of the melons are cucumbers, squash, bush beans, pole beans and more beans. Only the first teepee of pole beans is producing, but I definitely got enough to feed the family.

Everything in the middle is getting rampaged by squirrels. I bet there were 50 cherry tomatoes half eaten on the ground, and a couple of peppers had been eaten through. It’s time to spend a day there weeding for sure. Here is a picture of what I walked away with.

All of these pictures of our plot at Farm Chastain and many more are on my website http://www.carsonmatthewsphotography.com/ChastainParkConservancy/Runnemede-Row-Farm-Chastain/

Carson Matthews
www.CarsonMatthews.com

Tomatoes and Green Beans

Over the past couple of days I have noticed some of the green beans getting pretty big in the garden. This morning I picked a couple of handfuls of beans and two pretty red tomatoes. Tomorrow night I believe we will be having green beans, tomatoes with basil and a cucumber for dinner!

Stay tuned for more harvesting.

Carson Matthews

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Spring 2016 Back Yard Garden Update

At Matthews Farm, 2016 will be the year that I defeat the squirrels and chipmunks. Each year my garden has grown bigger and bigger, and each year more critters come out to enjoy the harvests the night before I come out to pick the fruits of my labor.

This offseason I decided to build real cages around each raised bed, and my strawberry & carrot bed has a hinged top as well. The other bed cages will be organic, as in they will grow with the crops as needed. I plan to build trellis’s for the tomatoes, cucumbers & squash, and keeping those caged in will be an ongoing process.

Below are lots of pictures of the evolution of the garden, the planted crops, and some early seed bloomers (pole beans) that will grow in a bamboo teepee. I am also quite proud of the set of sawhorses that I built thanks to direction from familyhandyman.com.

I’m looking forward to a summer full of fruits and veggies from the back yard!

 

Garden coming out of the Fall

the first cage going in

First Raised Garden Cage

Right of Passage Sawhorses doing their thing

Strawberry Patch Cage with Top

Faithful Sidekick Cody

Nifty hinged top

tools of the trade

Finished Cage Top

Broccoli

Blueberries

Strawberries

Green Beans

Green Beans

Strawberry Patch

DIY Soaker Hose

Strawberry Ready to Eat

Vegetables and diy soaker hose

Blueberry Patch

Matthews Farm

Thanks,

Carson Matthews

Pictures of the Chastain Park Playground

Yesterday we took the kids to check out the newly renovated Chastain Park Playground. You can read all about it at ChastainParkBlog.com. Here are a few of the pictures I got of the new playground, it’s truly one of a kind. More pictures are on my website www.CarsonMatthewsPhotography.com/ChastainPark

 

Thanks,
Carson Matthews

 

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Atlanta Supermoon

Last night I headed over to the North Fulton Golf Course in Chastain Park to capture some pictures of the supermoon.  This vantage point gave me a great look at the moon along with a view of the Buckhead skyline.

Water Spigot

Yesterday while walking around Chastain Park I found this really cool water spigot near the Chastain Arts Center.

Nikon D800, ISO 100, 72mm, f/5, 1/125 sec

Harley Davidson Golf Cart

This is by far my favorite golf cart.  It’s a Harley Davidson golf cart with a center wheel and center steering.  It is located on the grounds of the Chastain Park Conservancy in Chastain Park.  Over the years I have hoped to see it restored, but today I’m coming to grips with it being more of a piece of art.

 

 

Swimming at Chastain Pool

Last weekend we took our new GoPro out for a spin at Chastain Pool. We had a lot of fun trying it out and getting some underwater footage.

 

Carson Matthews

Thanksgiving Turkey Preparation Timelapse Video

Here is a iPhone 6 timelapse video of our Thanksgiving turkey preparation on Thanksgiving morning. After this it went into the Big Green Egg for several hours and came out perfect!

Timelapse Compilation of Sunrise and Weather

Here is a video compilation of time-lapse videos out of our front window. Our house faces East so we get great sunrises and a consistent look at clouds and storms moving through.

Sunset over the Chattahoochee River

Here is a picture of the sun tonight as it began setting over the Chattahoochee River in Atlanta. This shot was taken from the East Palisades Trail of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area looking west to Cobb Parkway as it crossed the Hooch.

Nikon D800, Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8

70mm f/8.0 5 frames processed in Photomatix and Lightroom

Saturday Down South

Saturday Down South