Farm News- September 3, 2009

Hi Folks,

The weather has continued to present challenges during this past week. The frequent rain does not give the ground ample time to dry out enough for me to prepare ground or plant seeds. In addition high winds which accompanied a storm on August 21 tore the plastic off the high tunnel greenhouse at the Blairstown farm.

I was never able to plant anything in this greenhouse due to the wet conditions, but we were using it to dry much of the onion crop. I didn’t become aware of the situation until last Wednesday ,and so on Thursday we were diverted from other pressing tasks in order to gather them and bring them to Andover to be stored in the barn, ahead of the weekend rainstorm.

The same high winds knocked over much of the trellising that supports the Rattlesnake pole beans.

In between harvesting and dealing with these various calamities we have been busy transplanting lettuces and the fall brassicas crops.

The week ahead is predicted to be rain free, so I hope to be able to seed a multitude of fall crops such as turnips, radishes, arugula, spinach, and various other greens. Because I have been delayed in planting these crops for so many weeks, greens will be rather scarce for a while. About the only greens I have in great abundance are dandelions and I doubt there are many of you who are huge fans of this bitter green.

The chard has succumbed to fungal diseases because of the damp conditions, but we are attempting to rejuvenate it by cutting it off at the base so it can re-grow. We will save all the clean leaf we find to distribute in the shares bagged, because it is mostly too small to bunch.

With cooler condition beginning the kale should begin to grow well again and we can harvest it for distribution in another couple of weeks. A second planting of zucchini and other summer squash is coming on and I hope to have sufficient quantities to deliver by next week.

The share for this week will be:
Romaine lettuce, white potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, Rattlesnake beans, beets, leeks, choice of Swiss chard or dandelion greens, garlic, ground cherries, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!
Farmer John