It has been a while since the last newsletter. That tends to happen when we get a string of dry days.
This spring has been incredibly compressed. And what happens when you compress a spring incredibly? Lots of tension!!! Ok, that might not be accurate for you physicists out there but for we farmers compressing a spring brings a lot of tension. As we have all experienced, this spring has been cold and wet until this past week when it became extremely hot and dry. With the late arrival of spring we were limited to planting only two successions of peas. With the extreme heat there is no reason to try another succession – they just won’t produce well. So this spring we will have limited peas available. A compressed spring is not good for peas.
On the bright side, everything else is doing quite well despite the fluctuating weather. Those in the film business say that when filming street scenes it is more dramatic when the streets are wet. With the recent rain and subsequent wet fields I figured the farm would show more dramatically as well. So this week I decided to take a few more pictures to give you a better sense as to the state of things on the farm. But before I start the slide show, I thought I would make a few announcements.
We still have shares to sell. Please, please, please spread the word!
We are still taking orders for Fruit, Cheese, Meat and Coffee. Meat and Coffee have already had their first delivery (we will hold the coffee for you until the first pick-up unless you want to come out to the farm) but we can prorate the remainder of the season if you still want to participate in either.
The first FruitShare will be delicious blueberries. We will have them here Wednesday June 22nd. If you would like to order a flat of blueberries please let me know as soon as possible.
Speaking of June 22nd, this is still our target date to start the season. That is only 12 days away! Now I am going out on a limb here but this is what I guess we will have: Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Watermelons and Winter Squash! No, not really. But we could have lettuce, snap peas, green garlic, green onions, swiss chard, radishes, broccoli, bok choi, and zucchini. No promises.
Now on to the slide show!
Here is the field with all the broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi, bok choi and brussels sprouts. If you look really, really, really, really closely you can see the flea beetles (I always want to spell beetles with an “a”).
Tomatoes are flowering already!!!
Garlic is growing quite large. Should be a good year for garlic!
Beans are just emerging from the soil. The heat was great to get them going.
Summer squash plants are flowering. Here is one complete with organic cucumber beetle! It is hiding behind the pistil.
Let us hope the lettuce grows quickly.
Bachelor Button. Not enough for a bouquet yet.
Time to hill the potatoes!
And finally, here is what happens when you don’t put the bee hood on when working with the bee hives. I got a sweet kiss on the lip from one of our friendly bees!