It is weather like we’ve had this spring that makes us ask our member to please bear with us as we try to resolve all the problems we are having with our weather control system.
Speaking of weather, we’ve had a lot of it lately. A lot more than we’d like. The Thursday night/Friday morning storm was the worst storm in the history of Fresh Earth Farms – from a wind standpoint. The wind was so strong it pulled 14 posts in our hoop house out of the ground. This of course required the lifting of the hoop house itself! When we built the structure we pounded the posts two feet into the ground. The affected posts – with the hoop house still attached – were set down from a few inches to two feet from their original location. The roll-up door on the north end ripped off its pegs. My guess as to what happened was the north door failed allowing the wind to catch underneath the hoop house and lift it off/out of the ground. I can’t imagine a scenario where the house was lifted but not from underneath. Since the structure was relocated to the east of its original location and the north side wall was severely impacted, the wind must have come from the north or northwest. We spent all Friday morning returning it to its rightful location – not an easy feat to say the least. Then during the afternoon shift we put together heavy wooden doors to block off the north entrance. We wedged the doors into place and will finally install them on hinges the next chance we get.
Now for the bad news, since we trellis tomatoes in the hoop house by suspending twine from the structure and attaching the tomato vines to the twine with clips, the result of the lifting of the hoop house pulled many of the plants out of the ground. Other plants had all their leaves stripped off as the clips holding the plants to the twine got pulled up their stems. Other tomato plants broke in half from the wind or the pulling of their support twine. These are not standard tomato growing procedures. Plants are a lot like Minnesotans – they don’t want to move elsewhere. They put their roots in the ground and expect to stay there their whole lives.
So when they were so rudely pulled from the comfort of their home they were not happy. And despite our best efforts to coax them into staying by burying their roots deeper still, they continue to show signs of their unhappiness. Of the approximately 150 tomato plants we planted in the hoop house about 35% were affected in some way. I would guess 10% will perish. Another 10% may not recover to the point of providing any usable fruit. The final 15% will probably survive with usable fruit but their production will be delayed. I guess the lesson we learned is to plant tomato plants with far stronger roots that can hold down the hoop house when a mighty wind comes.
What else got damaged? Most every plant on the farm was lying flat on the ground pointing east Friday morning. By the early evening they were mostly upright ready for wave number two Friday night into Saturday. This wave again flattened them but this time pointing south. Overall the loss was fairly minimal. A few plants got washed away by the deluge – but surprisingly all the cucumber beetles survived. How do they do that?
Speaking of being washed away, how much rain did we get you wonder? The rain gauge – which tracks only vertically falling rain – read 2 inches on Friday morning and 1.5 inches on Saturday morning. I haven’t checked it since – bad karma. I suspect we got a lot more of the horizontal style rain that the gauge didn’t capture. I think we are all set for rain this season. Just wish it would spread out a bit more.
With all the lightning and rain the plants are really starting to grow. Just last week I had a hard time seeing the winter squash plants from a distance. Now, even though my eyes are even older, I can see most of them. That’s a good sign.
What can you expect from the farm this week? Our best guess at this time is lettuce, snap peas, Swiss chard, bok choi, radishes, green onions, green garlic and garlic scapes. We are going to leave the beets, kohlrabi and kale grow for another week.
I should mention at this time – especially for new members and our long-time members without long-term memory – that just because we say we are going to have something doesn’t mean you are going to get it. Some items will have limited quantities, especially at the beginning and end of their production curve. Over the course of the season we spread the wealth so that everyone gets a chance at having some of everything we grow (as long as it isn’t eaten by the deer first). Last week we were limited in our chard production so only FamilyShares got it. This week it should be more widely available – with the deer caveat mentioned earlier. For drop-site members, if you want to know what you will get, the best way is to check the farm web site or Facebook page around 3:30 Wednesday afternoons (twitter followers will get a tweet when the pictures are posted to Facebook). We try to get pictures of each share size posted by then – no guarantee if harvest is troublesome.
FruitShare
FruitShare starts this week! We are picking up blueberries! If you ordered blueberries or the Summer/Fall FruitShare please pick-up your berries at your usual place and time. For drop site members look for your name written on the fruit box. Your veggie delivery box will indicate whether you purchased FruitShare but does not indicate if you purchased fruit a la carte — I hope that doesn’t confuse anyone. The next fruit will be in two weeks and will be delicious, certified organic cherries. You can still order cherries if you like. Just send me an email. Price is $63 for an 8 lb box. We will also have available blueberries for a la carte purchase in two weeks. Price is $65 for 12 pints (approximately 8 lbs). Email me to order.
We have a half FruitShare available at half price. Let me know if you’d like to have half a Summer/Fall FruitShare.
CheeseShare is this week. If you ordered cheese ask for it in the tent or for drop-site customers you will find it in your box.
Replace Cheese in the above paragraph with Egg and reread.
Speaking of eggs, we have a few eggs from our own chickens. If you would like eggs please ask in the pick-up tent. Drop site members can send me email and we will accommodate when we can — chickens can be a bit fickle. Price is $5 a dozen.
Since I didn’t mention it in last week’s newsletter I will mention it this week. Don’t forget about the First Annual Fresh Earth Farms Fall Film Fest on Saturday, September 7th. We are still looking for films. They do not have to be original; they can be films you found on the internet. The only rules are they can be no longer than 6 minutes and they should be PG or G. Potluck starts around 5:00. Film fest starts when it gets dark enough. For the really adventurous we will also be digging potatoes that day starting around 2:00. Put it on your calendar. We’d love to see all of you out here!
By the way, we are sold out for the 2013 season. Thank you for all the help recruiting this winter and for supporting Fresh Earth Farms!