Welcome to the Farm
Finally, a new farm share season is here! We are beyond excited to have the opportunity to share our vegetables with each of you. There is hardly a more personal choice than the food with which we choose to nourish ourselves. Thank you for choosing our farm.
With each weekly share, you will receive this newsletter with a brief editorial that will either give you an idea of what is happening on the farm or be an opinion piece written by your farmers about current issues. We encourage your feedback and response to these newsletters. We love to hear from you. Please read the newsletter. It only takes a few minutes but can mean the difference in knowing what to do with a strange item versus tossing it in the compost after it lingers in your fridge for two weeks. Ever heard of napolini?
Now for an overview of how our farming spring has gone. We didn’t get started as early as normal with the snow and winter temps hanging out for about three weeks longer than normal. When we did get early crops planted, everything looked great and on schedule. Then things started to get warm. Then too hot. Our cold weather crops grew quickly and many went straight to bolt, which means they are not harvestable. Some have been infested with insects not normally present in cool springs. In the case of our early radishes, they came in so fast we picked as many as we could and sold at the May markets but a majority bolted resulting in a pretty yellow flower and tough, woody root. Beautiful napa cabbages came in about two weeks ahead of schedule. The second planting of napas didn’t do very well in the heat and we discovered total loss from heat loving cabbage root maggots.
Fortunately, some things are growing so quickly that we will have them much earlier than planned. This is the earliest we have ever had broccoli to share. Cucumbers and tomatoes are not far off either! The peas are full of blossoms, so we are hopeful to share these very soon as well. It has been an unusual spring to say the least, but with a nice bit of rain showers the past week it might just prove to be a fantastic growing season yet.
Farming the weather rollercoaster,
