This Week on the Farm 10/16
We got four inches of rain this weekend! It is almost too late to make any difference for this season, but that amount of rain really helps us out for next year by replenishing the groundwater. There was so much rain that the fields were impassible for our tractor. We were planning on putting potatoes in the box this week, but when we tried to use the potato digger we almost got stuck. We decided to put beets in the boxes instead. Next week if it dries out in time, there will be potatoes.
It has been a quiet week on the farm. We actually took a full weekend off and left the farm. This hasn’t happened since last April. We went camping, and other than the pouring rain, it was fantastic to get away. Now we are back to the daily grind and will attempt to get all of the field work done before it starts to snow.
Monday we finished mowing the rest of the fields. Because of the rain we can’t get into the fields to disc, so that will have to wait until later this week. We would like to have all of the cover crop seed in by the end of the month so that it has a chance to germinate and set some roots.
All of the irrigation equipment is out of the fields. In the next week or two we will have to change the oil and do an overhaul on the two pumps. They saw a lot of action this summer and we need to take the time to take care of them. There are a couple of hoses that need to be taken off of the truck and put in the barn for storage, but the bulk of the irrigation equipment is put away for the winter.
Other than finishing up the cover crop seed and planting the garlic, the only other large project that I can think of that needs to get done is to move the high tunnel. We are going to move the tunnel to another field since it has been in the same place for two years now. We haven’t decided if we are going to try to move it this fall or early next spring. The best option would be to do it this fall so we can start seeding things early, but we may run out of time.
We have had a couple of people ask how we are able to produce boxes after we have had a couple of hard frosts. The answer is that some of the items have been harvested already and are either in dry storage or in our cooler. Other items are hardy enough that they can survive the colder weather. Things like Brussels sprouts, cabbage, leeks, & kale are perfectly fine outside for a long time. Collards and kale actually taste better after the first frosts because some of the starches are turned into sugar, making the leaves sweeter.
We did send out a link to our end of the season survey, so please check your email for that link. If you did not receive it, please email us so that we can get it to you. We feel that member feedback is very important and helps us keep getting better each season. If you have any varieties of veggies that you really want to see in your box, please let us know. We love trying new things each year.
This is the last delivery for the every other week “Pea Group.” We ask that you bring a bag of some kind to transfer your produce into and leave the blue tote at your pick-up site. We will have a couple of extra plastic bags at each pick-up site in case you forget, but please do your bit and help keep costs low for all of your fellow members!
Bean Group members and every week shares, next week is the last pick up week for 2012. I will send out a reminder email next week in case you forget!