We are still taking orders so keep spreading the word!!!
A farmer friend was commenting the other day about how he had to constantly modify his planting schedule this season. With the late start to spring then the rain, then the cold, then the snow, then the rain again and then more rain followed by the cold and then rain and cold and rain again, he was constantly revising when he was going to plant the various crops. I told him I had a foolproof method for this type of situation. In fact it works for any similar situation where you need to plan something where the activities take place outside. It is quite simple and straightforward. In fact just about anyone can do it. I hesitate to share this with everyone since it really is a competitive advantage for the farm but in the interest of world peace and other noble causes I am willing to divulge this to people who read our blog. Please treat it as confidential.
Here it is: I only make plans in those years when it is my turn to control the weather.
Simple really. And it works every time! Without fail. If you follow this advice you will never be disappointed by the weather affecting your plans.
So how are we doing following this year’s schedule? Well, it was not my turn to control the weather so we are right on target! No plan, no problem. Actually we do have a plan but it is pretty darn flexible. There are just a few plants that can’t wait to get transplanted. Those that are way too big and root bound, and corn. Other than that all other plants have more patience.
So far we have been lucky enough to not get root bound transplants. Though some plants got pretty big waiting in the greenhouse for warmer, drier weather, none grew too big to transplant. Our most pressing concern right now is getting the corn transplanted. Typically we grow corn in the greenhouse for 10-14 days. Younger than 10 days and the roots aren’t strong enough to withstand pulling the plants out of the cells. Older than 14 days can cause the plants to be stunted when they grow – or at least that is what we’ve heard. We have not had any problems in past years getting the corn transplanted within the five day window. This year may be an exception.
We transplanted the first round of early corn a week or so ago. No problems with that one. The second round was set to go this Wednesday. It was too wet still on Wednesday. Thursday we felt it was more important to get the cucumbers and other almost too large plants transplanted. Plus with the threat of rain and the soil moisture levels just right, it was more important to cultivate some of the crops while we could. So there was one less person helping with the planting. Friday we finished the almost-too-large-to-transplant transplants then started working on the corn. We got about half of it transplanted before the rain started. Today it is too wet to plant. The forecast is calling for rain every night until Monday. So this may delay the transplanting until Tuesday at the earliest. This will be the oldest corn we ever transplanted. If nothing else it could be a good experiment.
Other than transplanting when it is dry enough we are also hoeing and cultivating when it is dry enough, which isn’t very often. We aren’t too far behind surprisingly. Mainly because the planting is delayed which delays the cultivating and hoeing. Now that we have an abundance of plants in the ground we have a lot of cultivating and hoeing ahead of us and we can quickly fall behind. If it was my turn to control the weather we would get an inch of rain every Friday evening. But it’s not my turn so I deal with the weather chosen by someone else. I just wish they took my concerns into account.
We are still taking orders for Fruit, Cheese, Meat, Coffee, Flowers and WinterShares. Please contact us if you’d like to add them to your account.
MeatShare
The first MeatShare will be delivered to the farm on Friday June 3rd. If you want to add MeatShare please let us know ASAP. And for those who have ordered MeatShare please plan to pick it up on Friday after 10:00 am. I should be around all day so call when you get to the farm. We do have freezer space to store it for a while if you can’t make it on Friday.
FruitShare
The first FruitShare will be a flat of blueberries. It could be here as early as the first VeggieShare, but maybe not. If you’d like to add blueberries to your account please let me know. They are delicious, nutritious and organic.
First Pick-up
We are still looking at June 22nd as the first pick-up day. Stay tuned for late breaking news.