Author: Bryan Housel

Hello Everyone, Happy Labor Day! I hope you have all enjoyed your long weekend and have put your veggies to good use for your parties and barbeques. Of course here on the farm it’s just another day and we labor away. We don’t get long weekends or even weekends – the crops won’t wait! I’m just saying — not complaining — we get our time off in the winter! I will complain (as I am wont to do) about the weather: dry, dry, dry. The rain predicted for last week evaporated before it got here. There is more predicted for this Thursday (100% probability at present). Hopefully the weatherman has got it right this time; it does happen occasionally. (more…)

Hi Folks! So we have reached the mid-point of the season.  As we move into the 2nd half, greens will become more abundant again.  We will begin to have more of the cool weather root crops such as radishes and the salad turnips and you can look forward to receiving parsnips and celery root as well.  We will begin to go through the various brassica family crops, beginning with Napa cabbage and kohlrabi and then soon broccoli, cauliflower, and finally Brussels sprouts.  (more…)

Hello Everyone!  On Thursday of last week a series of storms delivered nearly 2 ½ inches of rain. This is, of course, more than we really wanted at one time, especially since most of it came in very heavy downpours.  I had just seeded radishes into very dry soil the day before and I was worried they would be washed off the beds, but they seem to be popping up okay.  We were also in the process of preparing more beds for planting and the rain came before we had a chance to till in the fertilizer we had applied, so some of it was probably washed off the beds. I’m not complaining though — I know that many areas to our east that have been very dry did not receive any rain. And then there’s the Plainfield / Scotch Plains area that had significant road damage from flooding caused by a stalled storm that dropped 6” of the wet stuff in just a few hours! (more…)

Hi Everyone!  So I thought we were almost done with the brutal heat and humidity for this year but I guess the forecasters were wrong (imagine that!). We received about an inch of rain last week but my soil dries out quickly and I am hoping for a good rain soon.  We are in the midst of a big push to get planted up with the fall brassica crops, greens and lettuces and I really count on precipitation, especially for the direct seeded crops like arugula, radishes, turnips, and spinach. (more…)

Hello Everyone!  The weather continues to be excellent for growing and for living. We are a little on the dry side but are hoping to catch some rain in the next couple of days. I am in the process of sowing many crops for the fall harvest, so I count on some precipitation to germinate the seeds. (more…)

Hello Everyone, We had 2 rain events this past week; the first dropped .7 of an inch and the second .3”, so we received the 1 inch per week that is ideal.  Both came just as I was about to head out on my seeding tractor to do some planting, so the timing was less than perfect, but hey, we need the rain. The second storm came with a gorgeous double rainbow, so that was adequate compensation for my frustration with not being able to seed.  The heat wave will break soon, so all in all the weather continues to be copacetic. (more…)

Hi Folks, Hot, hot, hot! – that’s all I have to say about the weather for this week. Good for the melons and the solaneceous crops (tomato, pepper, eggplant) but tough on the humans. We have been harvesting a few tomatoes this past week; they should start ripening more prolifically by next week. The ground cherries or goldenberries, as I now like to call them, have begun to fall. We may have enough to offer to a few groups as a choice with cherry tomatoes for this week and for others next week. (more…)