From the Farmer
Hot Hot Hot! That's what farmers are saying these days. It's times like these that we are especially grateful for our life-sustaining (quite literally) South River. Without it, it's hard to imagine that we could provide enough water for our crops to survive this very dry time. Though we've had a couple of good rains over the past few weeks, any moisture that falls from the sky is desperately soaked up by all the plants. The ground is so dry, and the air so hot that whatever the plants can't immediately drink is absorbed by the giant dry sponge, the soil, and at the same time much is being dissipated into the dry atmosphere. Again, we are grateful for our river and for irrigation!
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Thanks to irrigation, we're able to germinate important crops like
these beets for fall and winter storage.
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Black Caps are officially done for the season, but melons are just coming in to take their place. After a few days off, green beans are back in a new planting. You'll have to walk to the end of the you-pick flower row and then you'll be looking at the broadside of the bean row in our #12 field near the woods. When you do, Please Please be mindful of the newly-seeded carrot beds near the flower row and walk only in the pathway next to the flowers. We'll try to make it clear what's what out there, but generally speaking, you can't go wrong if you walk right alongside the flowers.
Sadly, downy mildew, a disease that comes every summer, though usually a bit later, has put an end to our first cucumber planting. We're hoping we might get some cucumbers out of our second planting, though those plants are already unwell and likely won't last very long either.
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Early cucumbers afflicted by downy mildew. Very sad.
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In dry times like these, we don't need a soil map to tell us where the gravelly or sandy sections of our fields are. Some areas of our pastures and hay fields are literally drying up before our eyes, with grass diminishing rather than growing over time.
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Don't let this farm update distress you though. Nearly all of our crops are doing really well and there is a great abundance of vegetables! We have more zucchini, summer squash, Swiss chard, and eggplants than we know what to do with. Please eat all you can!
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Harvest Report
Herbs: Basil, Cilantro, Parsley (Curly & Flat) Plus PYO Edible Flower & Herb Garden as always!
Roots: Beets, Carrots
Fruits: Eggplant, Summer Squash, Zucchini, Peppers
Greens: Arugula, Chard, Kale, Lettuce, Mesclun Salad Mix
Other Veggies: Broccolini, Fennel, Edamame
NEW: Tomatoes and a Choice of Melons or Edamame
PYO: Green Beans, Flowers, and our Edible Flower & Herb Gardens (Blueberries are still snacking only)
For Retail Sale: Everything! Some items may be limited
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FOOD!!
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CSA Pick-Up
& Produce Buying Times
Tuesdays & Fridays from 3 to 6:30 pm
Masks are optional.
Farm store is open daily, self serve, dawn to dusk. Some produce will be available in our new retail cooler during non-CSA times for purchase, but for the full selection of veggies, non-members should also come to shop during these CSA pickup times. |
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Other News
Bulk Produce for Sale at Wholesale Prices
Please email or talk to Britt/Maggie at CSA to preorder.
Swiss Chard $2.50 a bunch for 6 bunches or more
Basil $10 per 1 pound bag
Curly Parsley $10 per 1 lb bag
Eggplant $2.25 per pound for 6 lb or more
No more pickling cukes, sorry!
Preorder is also open for tomatoes - $2.25 per lb for paste tomatoes, $1.75 per pound for seconds mixed tomatoes. Boxes are around 20# each. These won't be available to pick up for a week or two, but its better for us to know ahead of time!
Winter Share
If you are a main season member who has never been a part of our winter share before, but would like to be, we want to hear from you! Check out our website for more details, and email us if you would like to be put on our pre-emptive waitlist.
When winter share sign ups do open in a week or so, we will open them to previous winter share members only at first, but we'd like to get a sense of how many main season members would join our winter membership if we didn't sell out so quickly!
While we may not be able to expand our share enough to accommodate everyone this year, knowing how much bigger we could potentially go will help us immensely in planning for next year. There also is a chance we can figure out a way to expand a bit this year, seeing as crops have been so bountiful!
Part Times Shares: Late Season Availability!
We have been able to add a few more spots into our current membership, so if you or anyone you know had been thinking about joining this year but didn't, you can join anytime in the next 2 weeks and still come for our last 10 pick-ups of the season! Sign-up here on our website.
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Barn Swallows are hatching their 2nd round of youngsters on the year. Prolific little birds they are!
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Austin moves the mobile chicken coop to a new field full of delicious clover. Lucky hens!
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