Fine print. It is always in the fine print. This year the fine print seems to be tailored to the potatoes. What fine print am I talking about? The one that mentions farming is risky and by joining you are sharing the risk, blah, blah, blah. In this case we are all sharing the risk of an infestation of potato leaf hoppers (PLH).
What are potato leaf hoppers? They are part of the evil axis of potato pests along with Colorado Potato Beetles (CPB) and some kind of white grub that I have yet to identify. PLH are an insect we haven’t seen much of before this year. And this year we still have a hard time seeing them, but I think that is more due to my advancing age and waning eyesight than the lack of specimens. Unlike CPB – which are large, clumsy, lumbering oafs of the insect world – PLH are awfully small, very well camouflaged and quite nimble! Unless you are looking specifically for them or they are in vast numbers you will probably not see them. I can attest to that. What gives them away is the damage they do to the potato plant: Hopperburn!
It took us a while to determine this is the cause of the unattractive potatoes plants – especially after they looked so great earlier in the season. At first we thought maybe it was a sinister disease, maybe late blight, but the symptoms just didn’t quite match. Then we thought maybe it was just too hot and dry since we hadn’t had this problem before – at least not to the extent we are seeing it this year. So we kept looking for an answer. And by looking I mean putting different search terms into Google until we found a picture that matched our problem. Finally using the search terms “potato tuber formation Minnesota” we struck gold. Maybe we overlooked the answer on other various web sites much like we overlooked the pest on the plants – did I mention that they are awfully small, very well camouflaged and quite nimble? Nonetheless, I think we finally found the cause. The next step is to find a solution.
So far finding an organic solution is far from successful. It seems the PLH doesn’t take kindly to being sprayed with organic pesticides, and by “take kindly” I mean they don’t die. So we will continue looking for a solution. And since PLH does not over winter in Minnesota (hmmm, maybe it did this past winter) we are asking the State of Minnesota to erect a barrier around the perimeter to prevent future infestations of PLH. This seems to be our best shot at growing potatoes organically.
What else is happening on the farm? Well, the garlic is about a week away from being harvested. This means we should have rain in the next week or so. The corn is growing but it desperately needs rain. The first planting is filling the cobs with kernels but without rain there may be no kernels. The cauliflower is starting to head up. We don’t blanch the cauliflower — this is what makes it look white — so the cauliflower you will get will be off white, maybe an Ivory Tusk or an Eggshell Cream color. The snap peas are done for the year as is the head lettuce; we’ll have salad mix in the fall. The string beans are just starting to size up. The tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are beginning to ripen — the earliest in the history of the farm! The eggplant and summer squash are in full force. Start looking for recipes using a lot of eggplant and summer squash (Ratatouille anyone?) Cukes are ramping up as well. Looks like the warm season crops are about to take over!
What is on tap this week? Well as I mentioned above we will have summer squash, eggplants, carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbage, some tomatoes, some cherry tomatoes, some potatoes, some more summer squash, some more eggplant, maybe beans by the end of the week, the same with cauliflower, perhaps some Swiss chard, perhaps more eggplant, perhaps more summer squash, a reasonable number of cukes, certainly basil, certainly summer squash, certainly eggplant, maybe hot peppers, summer squash and eggplant. I think that covers everything.
One thing I should mention for new drop site members: The listing of what we have each week doesn’t mean that is what you will get each week. You will receive some subset of these items. CoupleShares will get a smaller subset than FamilyShares. What we have found in the past is if we include some of everything you never have enough of anything to make a dish. So we try to give you fewer things but more of each thing. We keep track of what goes in the boxes to mix it up week to week and ensure you will over the course of the season get some of everything we grow. Let me know if you have any questions.
We still have a few more garlic scape cream cheese tubs left. Let me know if you would like some.
The next FruitShare is a mixed box of stone fruits. We can also order more Lapin cherries. The a la carte price for the mixed box is $41; $63 for the cherries (eight pounds).
CoffeeShare is in this week!
As a final note I present this article. Let me know if you single members would be interested in having the farm put one on.