Author: Bryan Housel

Hello Everyone!  So, we received 4 inches of rain from Sunday’s big storm.  We lost power around 8:30 just as we were sitting down for dinner.  Power was restored at around 2 AM.  We still maintain a considerable amount of produce in the walk-in coolers, so it is always worrisome to experience an outage.  Fortunately, it was brief and we did not suffer any damage from the high winds.  We have some very muddy conditions in the field to contend with, but all in all very lucky to have been spared the damage that has befallen much of New England.  I have come to accept worrying as an occupational hazard of farming.  One of the first songs I ever learned on the guitar was “Worried Man Blues,” an old folk song popularized by the Carter family (and covered by just about every folk and bluegrass artist).  I didn’t know back then just how well it would serve me! (more…)

Hi Folks!  A week after our frost event we are seeing the damage that was caused.  It seems bit strange, but while the peppers and beans were not completely killed, we had damage to some crops that are usually quite hardy.  Lettuce, which is much tougher than one might think, had quite a bit of tip burn, as did the chard.  Even the broccoli and the kale have some white spots on the leaves — a sign of frost damage.  (more…)

Hi Everyone!  Today, in addition to harvesting for the Tuesday deliveries, we spent preparing for another cold night.  This will be our first hard frost and will likely finish off most of the tender crops such as the peppers, eggplant, beans, and summer squash.  We have covered as much as we were able, to try to keep them alive for a few more weeks.  This will be a single cold night after which it will warm up again for a week or so.  The sweet potato vines will certainly be killed and we can begin harvesting them in earnest.  They will be featured in most, if not all, of the shares remaining in the season.  (more…)

Hello Folks, as I write we are receiving some much-needed rain; hurricane rain but without any damaging winds.  This will be of great benefit to the greens and the fall brassicas which have been slowed down by the dearth of precipitation through most of September.  We have some spinach that is sizing up and may be ready to begin harvesting next week.  We also have a lot of broccoli planted which will be heading up through the rest of the season and cauliflower should be starting soon as well. (more…)

Hello Everyone!  So, you may have noticed I haven’t had much to say about the weather for the past few weeks; a deviation from the norm – since most of my updates begin with a weather report.  I jokingly refer to it as griping about the weather, but it’s really meant to help the members understand what we are up against, and in what ways the weather affects our production.  With the devastation caused by Harvey and then Irma and now Maria, it didn’t seem appropriate to utter a single word that might be construed as complaining.  Besides, the frequent rain had ceased, and after a cool beginning September, the weather has warmed up nicely.  (more…)

Hi Everyone!  As we head into the fall we will be transitioning back into cool weather crops, but for now we are still abundant with summer veggies.  Next week we will begin to have broccoli again and we will start to ship some of the winter squash in the shares.  We have a nice crop of fall carrots coming along, but we will give them one more week to size up.   We have salad turnips for everyone this week.  They are great either raw or cooked and have beautiful greens. (more…)

Hi Folks!  So you might think that by now things would start to ease up a bit here on the farm, and I would have time to write these updates and get them out to the members in a timely manner.  But it never really slows down much until November.  We are still busy transplanting fall crops, such as lettuce, and direct seeding other crops like spinach and radish.  We are cleaning up fields that have produced their crop and planting oats and peas as a winter cover crop.  And we are preparing ground for planting garlic in late October and early November.  (more…)

Hello Everyone, we have another nice share for you this week, including another round of sweet corn.  Last week the corn we sent was Silverqueen, an old standard variety.  This week we are sending an heirloom variety called Luther Hill.  This is a variety that is well renowned in the tristate area, with its fans known for seeking it out.  It was actually one of the parents that were used in creating the hybrid Silverqueen.  It has rather small ears but boasts excellent flavor without the cloying sweetness of the new supersweet hybrids.  A few groups were shorted their Silverqueen last week and will receive it this time around and the Luther Hill for next week.  Everyone will receive some corn at least twice this season.  We have one more planting but it is uncertain how well it will yield.  There is a low incidence of earworm but it is still possible you may find one on the tip of some of your ears. (more…)

Hi Folks, Happy Labor Day!  I hope you enjoyed it however you spent it!  Of course, there’s no day off for us here on the farm — the show must go on!  My workers don’t mind — they are here to work and earn money to help their families.  And I get my vacation time in the winter.  Speaking of winter… it feels like it will be here soon!  We have had a few very chilly nights up here in North Jersey.  The long range forecast doesn’t call for frost until sometime in Mid-October; I hope that will be the case.  The fall crops are loving it, and the warm weather crops are hanging in there (excepting the melons and tomatoes, which were done in by the rain). (more…)