A few announcements then a quick update on the farm.
First, we still have a few shares available. No need to spread the word anymore but if you plan to join it is best if you do so now.
Second, we have a job opening for this summer. We are looking for either one full time person or two part timers. See this page for more details.
Third, we are still taking orders for fruit, coffee, and eggs. We need your order for these by the end of May. These are great add-ons to your veggie share!
Fourth, for those who have ordered herbs/annual plants: we have them ready but will not be putting them out for pick-up until next week due to forecasted low temps by the end of this week. If you would like them this week contact me to let me know when you will be here and I can set them out for you to pick-up. If you prefer that we continue to care for them until the weather is warm enough for planting do nothing and I’ll let you know when they are set out for pick-up next week.
Fifth, we will most likely start the harvest season the week of June 15th or 22nd. Stay tuned as we get closer.
Farm News
So far this Spring has gone pretty well. We could use more rain and less forecasted rain. It seems the meteorologists like to forecast rain that doesn’t arrive. This makes it hard to determine whether to irrigate. But with our years of experience we’ve realized the imprecise nature of weather forecasts and no longer count on them to provide us with what we need. So when the plants need water and there is rain in the forecast we ignore the forecast and listen to the plants thirsting for a quenching drink of water. If the rain miraculously appears all the better, unless it is several inches but that would have been an issue even if we hadn’t irrigated.
This Spring has also been fairly warm compared to average — until this week. Again with our vast years of experience we’ve come to realize the last frost of the Spring is always later than you think it will be. I was asked last week when it was in the 70’s if I thought we’d get another frost. My answer was, “Absolutely”. I can’t recall a year where we didn’t have a frost in May, and many years when we’ve had frosts in late May. This year it looks like we will have a frost or two by the end of the week. We haven’t planted anything frost sensitive outside so we should be fine. Hopefully a few of our usual pests have emerged from their winter sleep and will feel the pain when we get a frost. Nothing like a frost after a warm spell to help with insect control!
Other than planting, cultivating, weeding, greenhouse seeding, hoop house set-upping, gopher wrangling, irrigation line fixing, ground preparing, tractor repairing, tool buying, member question answering, newsletter writing, input acquisitioning, general accounting and email responding, it is pretty quiet around here. I hope your Spring is equally quiet and uneventful.
As always, contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, jokes, brain-teasers and anything else you feel it is important for me to know.
Oh, and happy Star Wars Day (a day late). For those who haven’t seen this, and for those who need another pick-me-up, here is our take on the whole wars thing. Make sure you can hear it otherwise it is pretty dull.