One of the biggest challenges this season has been the weather (not unlike every other season). But the weather challenge this year has been all the rain and more importantly its frequency. When we get rain every few days it doesn’t give us any time to farm. We can’t do ground work when it is so wet. So things like digging potatoes, digging carrots, cultivating, hoeing, transplanting, seeding, and even walking without slipping and falling are all things that don’t happen when it rains this much. There are also above ground items we don’t like to harvest in the rain, in particular the beans. We’ve found wet beans will rot in the cooler. So we typically pick them in the afternoon when the dew has dried. All this rain is not letting the dew dry, which is frustrating because there are a lot of nice beans to be picked if we could have the time to pick them!
“Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.” — Bob Marley
But I am surprised on how well we have managed with the rain. There has been enough dry days to get most things done, but (and there is always a but) some things aren’t done as well as we’d like. Another problem we have this year that we haven’t had in the past is a disease on our white onions. It starts at the neck and spreads through the onion causing the tissue to turn black. If the bulb is used quickly it is salvageable. If left in storage it will continue to rot. We haven’t seen this issue before but then again we haven’t had to harvest the onion bubs when they’ve been so waterlogged. On the bright side there seems to be plenty of good bulbs and the yellow and red onions don’t seem to be as affected (though only time will tell).
“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The other issue with all the rain is it allows diseases to thrive. The tomatoes are barely keeping ahead of the diseases and more importantly aren’t producing many new fruits. So last week was the peak of the tomato season and it is all downhill from here. Same with the cherry tomatoes. We will still have some tomatoes just not three or more pounds per week.
“Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.” — Saint Basil
So what will we have this week? Some tomatoes, some cherry tomatoes, a few cucumbers (they are also slowing down and dying), potatoes (we have enough for the first few days this week but need a few dry days to harvest more for the end of the week), garlic, onions, some tomatillos, some eggplants (thankfully these have finally started to slow down), sweet peppers, hot peppers, beans (especially if we get some dry weather), some okra, some beets and maybe chard.
The only things this week are BreadShare, FlowerShare (though the diseases are harming our flower production as well) and leftovers from last week (MeatShare).
“The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually.” — Eeyore