I know I’ve said it most weeks, I expect the pickings to be light, but you have been content. This week I REALLY expect them to be light, but I don’t feel as bad about it as I have previously. I did buy salad mix for you. We have lots of wonderful onions (sweet sandwich onions and scallions) and squash (makes good refrigerator pickles – slice thin and cold pack in bread and butter pickle brine). Ample tomatoes, though the geese got into the hoophouse yesterday morning and took one bite out of many tomatoes, enough to reduce your take by about 1 1/2 tomatoes per share, though not all would have been ready this week. Think pesto with all the basil. We have green beans. There is some broccoli, cabbage, and Napa cabbage. I walked the field this evening but am having trouble visualizing everything. There is kale but the chard has not recovered from the deer.
So why don’t I feel so bad? First, I couldn’t buy more for you because others don’t have extra of anything I don’t have plenty of, and I have beans and tomatoes when they don’t yet. Second, I have mentioned it before, but the Vermont vegetable specialist compiles reports from farmers in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and eastern New York every other week. This week’s report started with a farmer saying it was a great year, and then the next few reports went like “I hear others having a great year, but this is one my worst. Flea beetles were horrible. Early seedings and transplants didn’t do well.” One well-respected longtime farmer said it was the worst he had seen in thirty years of farming. Another mentioned they had just put in their second seeding of cilantro and dill, and I was feeling bad that I hadn’t gotten my third seeding in. It isn’t anything I gloat over, but it does make me feel less of a failure.
One of the tenets of CSA is the members share some risk with the farmer. In my mind though there is a difference between problems that are the result of management versus problems resulting from weather (though to some extent weather impact is manageable) and other external events. Some of the shortfalls are management – I decided to not plant as many unusual early greens since most members weren’t real enthusiastic about them, I am going to two markets and I need at least one of those days here to get things planted, deer fencing put up, etc.
This has been a positive learning year in having employees. I am fortunate to have really nice young folks who are interested in organic gardening. But I am learning what I can delegate, when I need a group of folks and when just one is better, and I haven’t learned to do my own things while they are here working. And it is great practice in being flexible – first one asked to work full time, then decided to go to Ireland for August but would find replacement. One replacement decided to go to England in August and the other was promoted at her other part-time job. They found another (great) worker, who just got the opportunity to learn to sail taking a boat to Florida, left this week. Enter one worker who did not work out, and another who I think will work out, and now starting yesterday someone who wants a lot of hours in August but is going to volunteer on a farm in Oklahoma in September. I never know who is going to show up, but they also don’t know from day to day what the weather will be or what I will have for them to do. The pluses of having several people part-time are that they can work in spurts and I can have time to work (think) alone, and if one quits I still have someone. I am learning that I can probably support one full-time person and a couple part-timers. I should rephrase that – I can use that many, but I dont’ know if I can support that many. A full-time person would gain enough skills to work more independently. Fortunately these have been really nice “kids” who do good work when they are here so I haven’t minded being flexible. My fear is that I won’t have enough to keep them busy, but that really means have enough work organized for them. That means I have to have done the work several times so I can instruct them, and a lot of what I do I changes from year to year, or it has been a year since I did it and I forget the contingencies, or it only needs to be done once and by the time I work it out, it is done. Three (or two?) want to work tomorrow, but it is likely to be muddy which limits what can be done. Weeds pulled up with mud on the roots will just put more roots back down and keep growing. So I told them to not come until 10 hoping it will dry. Then I realized that the garlic may be ready to trim, and that is an inside job. And I walked the field and it seems firm enough to pull the garden cart through to collect and remove weeds. Hoes won’t work in the wet soil, but we have areas of taller weeds threatening to go to seed, and they will pull easily from the wet ground.
I don’t notice morning coming later but do notice evening coming sooner. It is nice to have the hens go to bed by 9:15 so I can take the boots off. The downside is that time for outside work will be getting shorter. July and early August seems like a nice happy medium daylength. The seeds planted last Wednesday are up and running – the rain has really helped. Time to sign off so I will be cheerful and energetic in the morning.
