Category: News

Howdy Y’all! About 2 inches of rain fell last Thursday night into Friday, ensuring that the puddles stay full, and the fields remain muddy. There have been short windows of opportunity to get some seeds sown and beds prepared for transplanting. We are coming to the end of our brassica planting for the fall and are nearly through with the direct seeded crops. I have been planting arugula, tatsoi, daikon, salad turnips and spinach. I will be sowing these crops, as well as cilantro, dill, radishes, and mustard greens every week for the next month. (more…)

Hi Everyone! We continue to be blessed with decent weather – mild temperatures and moderate rainfall. The rainy stretch has taken a toll on our tomato crop though, especially the heirlooms, but we have some later plantings that are still looking okay. There are many ripe tomatoes on the vines that will not be picked because they are too ripe to sell or distribute to the members. They are good for making tomato juice that can be used as a soup base. We also have a lot of plum tomatoes that are ripening en masse. Over the next 2 weeks we will offer members the chance to buy bulk tomatoes. We will also invite members to come out to the farm and pick their own. (more…)

Hello Folks! It continues to rain frequently here on the farm, but we have not had any extreme weather during the past week. The moisture is beneficial to most of the crops, not so much the tomatoes and the melons, both of which are highly susceptible to fungal diseases – blights and mildews. The challenge is getting seed sown when the ground is constantly saturated. We have small windows of opportunity in between the storms when conditions permit us to prepare beds for planting. (more…)

Hi Folks! We have been scrambling today to get a lot of harvesting done and to batten down the hatches for the strong storms moving through the area. What was likely the strongest front just passed through and, while we received an inch of rain, we did not sustain any damage from wind or hail. Hallelujah! (more…)

Hello Everyone!  I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather as much as we are here on the farm. It is a real treat to have such mild temperatures, cool nights, and lower humidity in early August!

We have peppers for you this week and the tomatoes are coming in heavy now. We will have sweet corn for as many groups as the supply allows and take care of the rest next week. The first planting of summer squash is in decline and the second is just getting started. We are in a similar situation with the beans. We will make sure everyone gets both over the next 2 weeks. The beets will be arriving topless – I hope that’s not too shocking for you lol. (more…)

Hello Folks! There are no major meteorological complaints to be lodged for this past week – the excessive rainfall has abated, at least for now. There will be some scorching hot days this week, but nothing like what the southern and western US has seen in recent days. The fields have dried out enough to allow us to move ahead with our planting. I am direct seeding beans and herbs, and my crew have been busy planting more cucumbers and summer squash as well as thousands of brassica family plants for the fall harvest. (more…)

Hi Everyone! So, we don’t have levees, but if it keeps on raining something’s going to break! I guess it might be my heart, or maybe the bank – 5 inches this week! It is times like these when we are grateful for our light topsoil and sandy subsoil. But even with these blessings, there is still water pooling and puddling on the surface. This is the reason that we plant most everything on raised beds – it keeps the crops just a few inches above the standing water. It seems that we might have a few days without precipitation, so I might have a chance to get some seeds in the ground. (more…)

Hello Folks! I guess that you do not need to hear it from me, but it was a rainy week – almost five inches here on the farm. Most of it – four inches – fell Sunday afternoon and evening. Fortunately, there were a few dry days in between that allowed me to get some seed planting done. Some of what we grow is transplanted, but a lot of crops – spinach, cilantro, arugula, beans, and all the root crops – are direct seeded. We use mechanical seeders that are mounted to a small tractor, the Allis-Chalmers G. (more…)

Hi all, Happy Independence Day! I hope you have enjoyed the extra-long weekend. We continue to be inundated with heavy rains and apparently at least one overnight hailstorm, judging by the ripped spinach and chard leaves. New Jersey averages about 45 “of precipitation per year, which comes out to a little less than an inch per week, which would be perfect. Six weeks of drought followed by 7” of rain in two weeks is less than ideal. We are struggling to keep up with the weeds and I am falling behind on my planting schedule, but at least we are not constantly moving the sprinklers around! (more…)

Hi Folks! So, now after a dry spring, it’s looking like it’s going to rain every day for the rest of the summer! Don’t get me wrong – we still need some precipitation to replenish the soil moisture and the first few storm brought us only about an inch and a quarter, which only wet the top 4 inches of the soil. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing though, and these types of storms often come with damaging winds and hail (a four-letter word here on the farm). The rain gauge is marking 2” currently – today’s total thus far, from a storm that began 3 hours ago and is predicted to continue for three more. It’s going to be a muddy mess out in the fields as we try to harvest this week! (more…)