This Week on the Farm 6/18
I am really excited that it is CSA delivery season once more. This is the start of our fifth year, and although Mother Nature hasn’t given us much rain over the last few weeks, the fields are looking pretty darn good. Since last year we have installed two swales to help with runoff from large rain events, added a hardening off greenhouse, purchased a new turret style transplanter, and we are about 80 % done with our packing shed project. This last project will have the greatest impact on our week to week work load and I am really happy with how it is turning out.
In past years we have washed and packed our CSA boxes under two pop up tents. That meant that twice a week we set up tents and tables, washed and disinfected the tables, hauled produce to and from the cooler, moved our roller track (something that is ridiculously heavy given its size), and then took everything down again so that the wind wouldn’t blow it to bits overnight. Although we are still working on the electrical and have a few areas to paint, the majority of the packing shed is done. In fact, we will be able to pack every single box in the packing shed this year. Once everything is completed I am hoping to post photos of how we pack your boxes. Although, you are always welcome to stop out to the farm and see first hand how it is done!
This spring started off cool and wet, but the last few weeks have seen little rain. We have had some die back on our squash transplants (we have plants left over in the greenhouse that we can replant), but the largest impact has been on plants sizing up. We had hoped to have more members be able to take advantage of our strawberry picking weekend, but with no rain the berries have not sized up well at all. Strawberries are one crop that we really do not want to irrigate because we feel that it dilutes the intense flavor, but this means that it is harder to come up with the necessary poundage for our boxes. The berries also peaked earlier than last year, so we may only get this one week out of them. We are hopeful that all of our members will be able to get berries this week, but there is a chance we will not have enough. In that case, members will get the first kohlrabi of the season.
Our greenhouses are starting to empty out and our fields are starting to fill up. We just have two more fields to plant (two types of dried beans) and all of our field prep work will be done. Like always, there is a lot of weeding to be done. We have various types of equipment that we use, but the best way to weed is still by hand. We would absolutely love to get your help this coming Saturday, June 21 as we tackle the weeds in the Brussels sprouts.