Entries from July 2008
Hello everyone,
The good news for this week is that we received some much needed rain. The bad news is that now we’re getting a little too much rain at a time when we are trying to harvest the garlic and onion crop.
It certainly seemed that Murphy’s Law was in full effect this week. My lead worker who drives the trucks and moves both the workers and the harvest to where they need to be, contracted Lyme’s Disease this past week and was out for most of the week. The under cutter blade which I use to pass under the garlic to loosen it for harvest, broke when I was half through the task. The pickup truck broke down in the middle of a field, where it had to be pulled out with a tractor.
But as always, we forge ahead, dealing with each new challenge as it arises. The onion crop looks good although some varieties are a bit smaller than I would have liked, owing too not having had electricity to run the irrigation pump in one particular field for the past 5 weeks.
The beans have begun to produce and peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes will be starting soon. There are potatoes ready to be dug, but with picking beans and finishing the onion harvest there just isn’t time to harvest them for this week’s delivery.
The share for this week will be: Oak leaf lettuce, kohlrabi, carrots, sweet onions (one more time!), string beans, cucumbers or summer squash, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Categories: Farm Updates 2008
Hi Folks,
Hot enough for you? It was a rough week for my workers and me, trying to work in this heat. And most of the plants, even the heat loving ones, don’t really thrive above 90 degrees. It’s been dry as well, with several promised thunderstorms failing to materialize; we haven’t had a good rain in several weeks.
At this writing it is just beginning to rain a bit, so hopefully my thirsty plants will get a good drenching. I just finished planting some string beans so a good soaking rain is just the ticket to germinate them quickly. I have finished framing the new cooler and hope to have it up and running by the end of the week. I imagine it will quickly be filled, as there are several thousand heads of lettuce and cabbage that will need to be harvested ASAP.
We will be including beets in the share this week, some will be the regular red type, but there will also be white beets and an Italian heirloom called Chioggia. These are also known as Candy cane beets and are white with red rings inside. We will also be sending radicchio, mostly of the trevisio type, which has the form of a romaine lettuce. We will be shipping sweet onions again this week as we have quite an abundance of them, and as previously mentioned they don’t store well.
We have come to the end of the pea season, with only the snow peas continuing to flower and produce. The green beans are full of flowers and tiny beans and I expect to begin picking by next week. The cucumbers are beginning to come in as well, although not in sufficient quantities for all groups, so we will begin a rotation with the summer squash over the next few weeks.
The share for this week will be: Romaine lettuce (green or red), radicchio, summer squash or cucumbers, Swiss chard, sweet onions, cabbage, garlic, beets, and choice of 2 herbs (cilantro, parsley or basil.)
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Categories: Farm Updates 2008
Hello Everyone,
Well I have finally finished planting the winter squash and the edamame soybeans. Better late than never is an expression that doesn’t quite work in farming, but with a little rain and plenty of sun for these next 2 months there should still be a decent harvest. The varieties which were seeded first have germinated well and I have already cultivated them twice, since the grass in this former hayfield is also germinating quite prolifically. With this major task behind me I expect to have time to begin constructing the new cooler.
At present I have green, red and Savoy cabbage ready in the field and all of them will have to be harvested very soon or they will begin to split. So unless I include 3 heads of cabbage in next week’s share, we will need to store them for the next couple of weeks. The Chinese cabbage which I expected to be ready weeks ago has mostly bolted and is not useable. I am planting more for the fall harvest when the cool weather will insure a successful harvest. We are continuing to harvest cauliflower and have quite a bit of a yellow variety called Cheddar and a purple variety as well as the traditional white type. I hope to have enough for everyone this week, but if not will send cabbage instead.
Peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant are all flowering profusely, so it should be just another couple of weeks before we begin harvesting these summer favorites. This week we will be shipping a variety of sweet onion called Walla Walla. They are rather large and very mild but they do not store well so use them up quickly. We will begin delivering garlic next week.
The peas are coming to an end but there should be sufficient quantities for delivery this week. The green beans are growing beautifully and should be beginning to produce in 2 weeks. We still have radishes and both salad turnips and red skinned turnips in abundance, and so there will be a choice of these again this week. Beets will begin next week with carrots to follow. The share for this week will be: Summer squash, sweet onions, peas, lettuce, choice of turnips or radishes, choice of Swiss chard or kale, cauliflower or cabbage, and choice of an herb- dill, cilantro, or basil.
Enjoy! Farmer John
Categories: Farm Updates 2008
Hi Folks,
It was another hectic week at the farm, but a lot was accomplished. One of the major projects that has been worrying me for the last several weeks was the laying of a waterline 500 ft. across horse paddocks, to get water to the crops planted in my newly rented field. There are eggplant, peppers, ground cherries, melons, and other crops planted in this field in plastic mulch covered beds.
The plants have been growing well for the last few weeks but will grow much faster with water running through the drip tape. On Wednesday we rented a trenching machine and were able to complete 95% of the ditch. Unfortunately we encountered an old concrete slab in our path and will have to rent a jack hammer next week to complete the job. On Thursday we finished laying the PVC pipe as far as we could and for the time being we have temporarily bridged the gap with 2” hose. So finally we have irrigation capability and I expect that we should start seeing peppers and eggplant in 3-4 weeks.
My new delivery driver Richard was able to obtain the correct refrigerant and charge the system on my box truck, so I now have working refrigeration. The next hurdle (in this particular arena at least) is finding a solution to the need for 3 phase electric power to run the compressor rather than a diesel engine. This option would give be extra backup cooler space, something I have badly needed during these past few weeks of bolting lettuces and an overflowing cooler. The next major project that looms ahead is the construction of another walk-in cooler in the barn of the newly rented farm. And there was actually still time to get some planting done! I have almost completed planting the pumpkins and winter squash and I expect to finish as well as plant the edamame soybeans this week. We have also been busy in the greenhouse- planting all of the same cool weather crops (broccoli, cabbage, etc.) for the fall that we are currently harvesting from the spring planting.
I hope you have been enjoying lots of salads because there will be 2 heads of lettuce in the share again this week. I have to make room in the cooler! The share for this week will be: Romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, kohlrabi, parsley, peas, broccoli or cauliflower (that which you didn’t get last week) choice of salad turnips or radishes, and choice of Swiss chard or spinach. Enjoy! Farmer John
Categories: Farm Updates 2008
Hi Everyone,
As we head into the dog days of summer we continue to be plagued with the problem of bolting. We are just finishing the harvest of the first planting of lettuce and the second planting is already showing signs of shooting up their flower stalks. The cooler is already jammed full of tubs of lettuce and there are thousands of heads in the field that must be cut or will be lost.
Because of this we will be shipping 2 heads of lettuce this week. One of the varieties is a beautiful heirloom type of romaine called Forellenschluss. It has gorgeous speckled red leaves and very dense heads filled with a preponderance of very thin tender leaves.
We have begun cutting a lot of cauliflower, but there may not be enough for all groups this week. Those who do not receive cauliflower will get broccoli, and next week it will be the reverse. The summer squash is coming on strong and there should be zucchini in next week’s share.
The share for this week will be: Red leaf lettuce, Forellenschluss romaine, scallions, mustard greens, cauliflower or broccoli. There will be peas for those groups who did not receive them last week.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
Categories: Farm Updates 2008
