Author: Bryan Housel

Hello Folks! So, it was a wet spring and the final week of the season was even wetter. It’s been a challenge to get our planting done and now all the moisture is starting to affect the crops a bit. We lost hundreds of heads of lettuce to rot before it was even close to maturity. The spinach is turning yellow. Anywhere there is a low spot in the field where the water collects the crop is stunted or has died. (more…)

Hi Folks! Just got in from the field; trying to get some winter squash planted ahead of the next round of rain. I’m late getting this update out so I will make it brief. (more…)

Hello Everyone! So, we have arrived at the week many of you have been anxiously waiting for – the first CSA share delivery. In spite of the weather-related challenges we have faced this spring, we have a nice share for you to start out the season. (more…)

Hi Folks! So, we have arrived at the end of another CSA season. While every season has its particular challenges, primarily weather related, this has been one for the books. While I’m not generally in favor of book burning I might be willing to make an exception in this case. Usually a particular type of weather is bad for some crops and beneficial for others. If there was any doubt, we can now state unequivocally that buckets of rain and days on end with no sunshine is not conducive to growing any crop. (more…)

Hi Folks – So torrential rains delivered another 4 inches of water this past Friday night into Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon, the creek behind the house overflowed and flooded the part of the field where we have been trying to harvest the sunchokes. After last week’s unseasonable warmth, the fields were just starting to dry out a bit. We are forecast to receive more heavy precipitation from strong storms overnight and through Tuesday. The monsoon season heads into a fourth month! I’d like to cry, but I don’t want another drop of water to hit the ground. (more…)

Hi Everyone, So the bizarre weather pattern continues — frequent rain and consistently gray skies with very little sunshine. And we continue to be frustrated that crops are growing so slowly. At least there’s no extreme cold forecast for the moment. We are waiting impatiently for the cauliflower to head up and the spinach to grow large enough to cut. It’s a small share this week, sorry. (more…)

Hi Folks! So, it hasn’t been raining much lately and the sun has even been shining from time to time. The fields are beginning to dry out a bit, although we still have deep ruts in many of our farm lanes. The weather issue we have been dealing with lately is cold nights. We have had 3 light frosts so far but no hard freeze. We are covering some crops like the peppers to try and keep them coming a little longer. Between the cold and the shorter days, everything grows a lot slower. We are waiting for the cauliflower to head up and for the spinach to get big enough to cut. I mentioned parsnips in last week’s update but we will hold off on these until next week. For this week we have rainbow carrots for you. (more…)

Hi Folks! So it’s another gloomy day here on the farm. What happened to the sun! We narrowly missed a frost on Sunday morning, but more cold air is moving in and we will certainly be hit by Wednesday or Thursday. This will mean the end of the eggplant and soon the end of the peppers. We are trying to cover as much as we can to protect it but it depends on how low it goes as to whether we succeed. Most of the crops remaining in the field are hardy and are not hurt by frosts or light freezes. Let’s just hope the mercury doesn’t dip too low anytime soon. They say the parsnips get sweeter after a frost so I guess we can begin to harvest them for next week. (more…)