Welcome – I apologize for not being more communicative, but I’ve been working hard at keeping on top of production for you.
Pickup is at our field on Route 9, about a mile south of Bear Swamp. Please enter in the north driveway – there should be some big banners to show you where. Come in and angle park facing the road. Exit from the south driveway, but the “carport” shelters.
Pickup is from 3 to 6, but I had advertised that it would be until 6:30. Last year we had one family coming after 6. If you need us to stay open until 6:30 please just let me know – I can weed and do other things to stay busy.
Here’s what we have for this week:
- Snow peas
- Scallions
- Garlic scapes
- Salad mix
- Head lettuce
- Leaf lettuce
- Swiss chard
- Basil
- Gold potatoes have lasted all winter in our cooler!
There is some spinach, but it has matured beyond optimum. I didn’t pick much but we can easily pick more if you taste it and are satisfied. I am really picky about the flavor of my greens.
This is not as much selection as my paper plan had, but the dry hot weather we had really negatively impacted cool season crops we planted just before it. We are use water-efficient drip irrigation which just puts water in a small band by the plant. My training/habit has been to give the plants an occasional (weekly) good watering, and let them dry out a little in between, forcing the roots to grow downward into the more moist subsoil. This year it was so dry I don’t think there was anywhere for the roots to really want to go for water. Once we got a couple good rains that wet the whole soil surface, they took off. Some plants are naturally shallow-rooted anyway – lettuce, onions, etc. Harvesting chard today really brought home that they just hadn’t sent out roots – I pulled several plants up by accident. I transplant a lot of crops to get a jump on the weeds. Transplants typically don’t send out as deep roots as the same plants would if seeded directly in the ground.
And the flea beetles really hit the early greens hard. The kale is growing out of it, but most of the early greens other than lettuce were unsalable – too many holes, and they really stunt the plants.
We also will have fresh chicken and eggs for sale. Eggs are $3.50/dozen. Chicken is about $4/lb (rounded to the dollar).
Here is a “map” of the field, in case you want to walk and look. And below it is another project, so go all the way to the bottom of the message please.
From the top down (dates are date planted in field):
- Weed control area, for planting soon
- Flowers
- Area for soon planting winter root crops
- Brussels sprouts 5/27
- Sunflowers 5/22
- Herbs 5/22
- Hot peppers, eggplant, sweet peppers 5/21
- Potatoes one row planted later
- Potatoes
- Potatoes
- Potatoes
- Potatoes
- Potatoes
- Potatoes 5/18
- Potatoes – blue flags separate varieties in our NOFA evaluation of potatoes for organic production
- indeterminate tomatoes 5/17
- indeterminate tomatoes 5/17
- shallots, chard 5/17
- kale, chard, basil
- coles, chard, lettuce
- kohlrabi, ??, collards, napa cabbage
- onion
- leeks and onion
- leeks
- garlic
- garlic
- garlic
- garlic
- garlic
- onions 4/26
- onions 4/26
- onions 4/26
- onions 4/26
- onions 4/26
- onions 4/26
- onions 4.30
- onions 4/30
- kohlrabi, cabbage, pach choi, broccoli 4/8
- salad mix and lettuces 5/3
- carrots
- beets
- carrots
- salad mix
- Cukes and summer squash 5/17
- Provider beans 5/18
- Determinate tomatoes 5/17
- Zinnias and sunflowers 5/22
- Transplanted salad lettuces, fennel 5/22
- Dill, cilantro, lettuces, Napa cabbage 5/22
- Salad greens 5/27
- Salad greens 5/27
- Lettuces 6/11
- Weed control area – we “solarized” it with clear plastic to control quackgrass and thistles.
- Sugar Snap peas
- Sugar Snap peas
- Snow peas
Then south of the driveway are winter squash, soon to be sweet potatoes and melons, weed control, and perennial flowers rescued from the thistles at the bottom of the other field.
The hoophouse has tomatoes with basil and scallions tucked in along the edges, and climbing beans experiment on one end wall. And a couple tables of transplants coming along.
Do you have tee-shirts you don’t expect to use? We can make them into reusable shopping bags for members to use for their produce. Anyone want to join up for an easy sewing brigade? We could get together on a Sunday afternoon and whip out a bunch of these. It is easy – cut off the sleeves, enlarge the neck, sew across the bottom. Voila – a washable, scrunchable, small space reusable shopping bag. By the time our tee-shirts are unusable, they are REALLY unusable. So, if you want an excuse to clean the drawers of accumulated tee-shirts, here is a good use. Of course, the nicer the design, the more fun the bag is.
We will have plastic bags for you, but you are most welcome to bring your own to reuse. I look forward to seeing you!
