Farm News- July 31, 2008

Hello everyone,

The good news for this week is that we received some much needed rain. The bad news is that now we’re getting a little too much rain at a time when we are trying to harvest the garlic and onion crop. It certainly seemed that Murphy’s Law was in full effect this week. My lead worker who drives the trucks and moves both the workers and the harvest to where they need to be, contracted Lyme’s Disease this past week and was out for most of the week. The under cutter blade which I use to pass under the garlic to loosen it for harvest, broke when I was half through the task. The pickup truck broke down in the middle of a field, where it had to be pulled out with a tractor. But as always, we forge ahead, dealing with each new challenge as it arises. The onion crop looks good although some varieties are a bit smaller than I would have liked, owing to not having had electricity to run the irrigation pump in one particular field for the past 5 weeks. The beans have begun to produce and peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes will be starting soon. There are potatoes ready to be dug, but with picking beans and finishing the onion harvest there just isn’t time to harvest them for this week’s delivery. The share for this week will be: Oak leaf lettuce, kohlrabi, carrots, sweet onions (one more time!),string beans, cucumbers or summer squash, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!
Farmer John