Hello Folks, We had a flurry of weather events over the weekend including a brief flurry of snow. On Friday night we had our first frost of the season followed by our first hard freeze on Saturday and again on Sunday night. We had 26 degrees at 6 AM Sunday morning and 24 degrees this morning – brrrrr! Last week in preparation, we were scurrying about trying to harvest anything that would be damaged and covering a few crops we thought maybe we could save. (more…)

Hello Everyone! So the days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder. While it is forecast to be a mild fall with above normal average temps we will still have a killing frost soon — probably next weekend. This past weekend we had a very light frost which blackened some of the sweet potato leaves and burned the pepper plants slightly. This normal and expected and most of what we grow for the final weeks of the season can tolerate frost and even a hard freeze. (more…)

Hi Folks, so after much premature hysteria we were spared from the wrath of Hurricane Joaquin. We nevertheless received about 3½ inches of rain from 3 days of drizzle and occasional showers. This will be beneficial to most of the crops, especially the brassicas and the root vegetables, but as previously mentioned will speed the demise of the tomatoes. (more…)

Hello Everyone, So it’s been nearly 3 weeks without precipitation now, but we are forecasted to receive heavy rain on Wednesday. There is also rain forecast for Saturday, which will put a damper on my markets (both literally and figuratively). We are still managing to glean a few tomatoes from the fields but if it starts raining too much that will be the end of the tomato harvest for this season. The broccoli continues to head up prolifically and we have been sending Romanesco cauliflower to various groups over the last few weeks. If you haven’t gotten any yet you will soon. (more…)

Hi Folks, so autumn has officially arrived, and the nights are getting quite chilly out here in the hills of Northwest New Jersey. The long term forecast for the Northeast is for warmer than average temps through the fall, so hopefully we won’t have a frost until late October. This is a great time of year for veggies since we can still enjoy some of the summer crops, and the fall cool weather vegetables are beginning to come in as well. (more…)

Hi Folks, we received little over 2 inches of rain last week, ending the latest dry spell. The fall crops are growing beautifully, and the recent seeding has germinated well. Unfortunately the cool nights and heavy dews along with this rain are causing a premature end to the tomato harvest. We have mostly cherry tomatoes left and a late planting that may produce a few slicers and some plum tomatoes. We will distribute these as supply permits over the next few weeks. (more…)

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…)