First I want to thank those members who returned early from the King Charles’s coronation in time to help out with this year’s Potato Planting Party. It was a great time had by all — especially those who like rain. We got about halfway through the project before the sky opened up. If I do the math correctly, with twice as many people we could have finished the project that day but instead we completed it on Monday. Still the assistance from those in attendance was immensely helpful especially when there is so much to do this time of year (by this time of year I mean from now until the end of October). Thanks again!
Anyone lose or want a cat? There seems to be a very friendly black and white cat hanging around with apparently no better place to go. Could your place be a better place? Perhaps! Let me know if you need a free cat!
We are still taking orders for 2023. We had another reasonable sales effort last week but still have a ways to go. Spread the word far and wide! We will credit your account $25 for everyone who says you told them to join. Have them put your name in the “Where did you hear about us?” line of the order form.
We have only 12 EggShares available. If you’d like an EggShare please order it as soon as possible.
We have only seven FlowerShares available. If you’d like a FlowerShare please order it as soon as possible.
We have a limited number of WinterShares still available. If you’d like a WinterShare please order it as soon as possible.
We have unlimited ‘ShroomShares and CoffeeShares. However please order them as soon as possible so we can get the final order to our suppliers.
With the forecast of warm weather from now until the forecast ends, we will put the six packs out ready for pick-up today, May 11th. I will send out an email to those who ordered with pick-up instructions.
My current estimate for the start of the harvest season is the week of June 19th, though this may change so please use the pencil font in your electronic organizer.
Farm News
We’ve been getting a lot of planting done. With the late start to the season there was quite a bit of backlog we had to work through. We’ve caught up and now are planting at a more leisure pace. This time of year is always a bit scary in that though some crops can withstand cold weather, many of them cannot. We’d like to plant everything now to get them all off and growing but the risk of potential frost is still present. For example, last season was a late start but once it warmed up in May it stayed warm — until May 29th when we had a frost. That was the latest frost we can recall and we hope it will always retain that record.
Besides planting we also have started weed management. The garlic is doing quite well as are the weeds in the garlic. Our current planting process has me attaching and configuring various pieces of equipment we use to prep the soil and plant the plants while the rest of the crew weeds the garlic until I complete the attachment/configuration process. Then we go off to plant whichever plant the equipment is configured for. Rinse and repeat. I guess that is yet another positive thing about garlic. It gives the crew something to do while waiting for me, though a lot of the other recently planted crops could use a good hoeing.
It won’t be long until we add pest management to the growing list of tasks. I saw my first cabbage butterfly yesterday. We’ve see some flea beetle damage on the wild mustard. Soon they will discover the broccoli and cabbage and migrate they whole family to their new breeding ground. And of course our biggest pest has already returned — the deer. I’ve seen a couple of broccoli plants with their tops missing and another couple pulled out of the ground. The deer must be desperate if they are eating the broccoli.
Other than planting, weed management, and pest management and membership recruiting, oh, and website maintenance, and irrigation (yes we already seem to be running out of rain [oops, did I just jinx us?]), and also tractor repair and equipment maintenance, and of course newsletter writing, marketing, sales and accounting, payroll, etc. it is pretty slow around here.
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, share orders, etc. I’m always looking for new newsletter topics. I feel like after 20+ years I’m running out of things to write about.
Joke of the Week
In honor of King Charlie’s coronation I thought of this joke:
What is the King’s favorite vegetable?
Broccoli, because it has crowns.
Or maybe in Charles’s case: Corn, because it is all ears.