Farm News- September 10, 2009

Hi Folks,

The dry weather this past week has finally allowed me to plant many of the fall root and greens crops that I have been trying to sow for weeks. Now of course a little rain would be appreciated to get them sprouted and growing.

We have also been busy transplanting lettuces and brassicas for late season harvest. As previously mentioned a planting of summer squash is beginning to produce, unfortunately they are already showing signs of disease. At present I am unable to predict whether there will be sufficient quantities to deliver in the shares this week. I expect to be able to ship zucchini to some groups this week and to others next week.

The tomato harvest seems to be just about over for this season, whatever fruit we are able to harvest breaks down very quickly.

The rattlesnake beans have also slowed way down in their production, due primarily to a bad infestation of Mexican bean beetles. This is a consequence of not being able to spray to control this pest on the early planting of bush beans. Left uncontrolled the populations grow rapidly and spread to successive plantings. Some of you may have encountered a few of the yellow larva in your beans and I apologize for that. We try to remove them as we harvest, but inevitably some escape detection.

I have one last planting of beans that should begin in another 2 or 3 weeks and I will be spraying them this week to try to control this plague. I will be sending various items as extras this week, such as turnips, kohlrabi, tomatillos, and hot peppers. These are products that we don’t have in large quantities and which are not universally popular. This serves the dual purpose of supplementing a slightly light delivery this week and allowing me to make space in my cooler. I hope everyone can find something they can use among this assortment.

I will also be sending sweet corn this week. It will be freshly picked, locally grown corn but not organic.

The share for this week will be:
Red lettuce. Carrots, peppers, eggplant, fingerling potatoes, yellow onions, ground cherries, conventional sweet corn, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!
Farmer John