Since we love our job we can’t stay away for three whole days in a row. So we are open and delivering on Labor Day! If you pick-up your produce on Mondays please plan to do so on Labor Day.
As we were having lunch the other day we were reminiscing about last season and the tomato harvest that was underway. Last season in the middle of August we were harvesting between 300 and 400 pounds of tomatoes every other day. We were giving out 2-3 pounds of tomatoes per share (using our new marketing terms, FamilyShares were getting nine pounds, CoupleShares were getting six pound per week!) It was a great year for tomatoes.
This season we are getting between 80 and 100 pounds every other day. That’s a third or less of what we’d expect at this time. We planted the same number of plants. The weather seemed similar (sun, rain, wind, clouds, the usual stuff that we get with weather). The farm hadn’t moved relative to the rest of the earth’s crust. There were no major calamities. There were no infestations. There was virtually no difference that we could discern. Why the dramatic drop-off in production?
The only sensible idea out there is that the tomatoes are jealous. We are not spending enough time with them. With their out-of-control production this season we spend a lot of time hanging out with the cucumbers. The tomatoes see all the attention we are paying to the cukes and are green with envy. Who thought tomatoes were so sensitive?
Now that we figured out the cause of our problem the next step is finding a solution. And using our knowledge of tomatoes and their emotions we determined we needed to get them even more upset. We needed them to turn red with rage! How does one enrage a tomato? You simply REDACTED. That’s all there is to it. By REDACTED the tomatoes get angry and start turning red. So we put in place a REDACTED with special REDACTED and occasionally REDACTED until REDACTED. We are now getting closer to 200 pounds every other day. If we keep REDACTED we should get closer to our goal of 300 pounds unless REDACTED, which is incredibly funny when it happens. Hopefully this gives you some insight into how we grow tomatoes here at Fresh Earth Farms.
Speaking of growing things, we received quite a few surveys from members – thank you – and are starting to analyze the responses. What we have determined to date is that we have grown EXACTLY what everyone wants. We did not grown any extra of anything. We did not grow too little of anything. In fact it was incredible how precise and accurate our estimation of what everyone wanted was. It was miraculous!
The down side was we didn’t seem to distribute the produce to meet the demand. You see for everyone who had too many cucumbers there was someone else who wanted more. For each respondent who had more than enough eggplant there was another looking for more. For every member who had more than enough fennel there was someone else who, well, actually there wasn’t anyone else who wanted more fennel. So maybe we overestimated our membership fennel needs this season. But other than that, we did pretty well. So our production was spot on but our distribution was lacking. This gives us something to accomplish next season – individually packaged boxes with the exact produce everyone wants. Hmmm, maybe we will stick with identically packed boxes and hope our members figure out what to do with all the veggies.
Speaking of all the veggies, what will there be this week? Great question. We are done with the sweet corn for the season. I hope it turned out for everyone. Seems like most people had a few weeks of great corn. But what we will have are tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, beans, potatoes (russet nuggets this week), CARROTS, onions, garlic, cucumbers, squash, peppers, cabbage, eggplant and tomatllos (hopefully). There are probably a few other things that don’t come to mind at the moment.
AmphibianShare
This week’s AmphibianShare will be bull frogs. For those who ordered AmphibianShare please plan to pick up your bull frogs at your usual pick-up time and place.
FruitShare
We will be picking up Colorado Peaches this Wednesday! Plan to pick yours up at your usual pick-up time/place.
CheeseShare
We have CheeseShare coming this week. It will include a raw milk medium cheddar, a raw milk spinach leek cheddar and a Fresh Earth Farms exclusive garlic scape cream cheese. We ordered extra garlic scape cream cheese! It is $5 per 8 oz tub. Drop site members please let me know if you would like some. On-farm members can pick some up when you pick up your produce. (If you pick up on Monday you might want to let me know so I can reserve a tub for you).
MeatShare
MeatShare will be here on Friday. Please plan to pick it up at the farm during our usual pick-up times.
One more reminder that we are open and delivering on Labor Day.