Farm News – August 1, 2016

Hi Everyone! So we finally got some rain, a bit over 2 inches with a little more expected overnight.  We are very fortunate not to have been deluged.  I have heard that some NJ farmers were hit with 6” or more; and then there are those poor folks in Maryland.  Wow!  That seems to be the way it is these days – feast or famine, as they say.

In spite of all the challenges, the crops are doing well, and the harvest thus far is bountiful.  Tomatoes are coming in heavy now, and you will receive both slicing tomatoes and cherry tomatoes this week (unless you got cherries last week in which case you will receive plum tomatoes).  Heirloom tomatoes are beginning to ripen as well.  Eggplant production is still lagging a bit so we will have some for those who got skipped last week only.  Green peppers are abundant, but next week we will take a week off to allow them to begin to ripen into red, yellow and orange ones.  The second planting of beans has begun to bear, so by next week there will be larger quantities.

We are picking lots of watermelons, as well as the larger melons such as cantaloupes, honeydews, and galias, so you will see one or the other this week.  We still have cauliflower coming in, and we are shipping red cabbage as well this week.  Lettuce is back, and arugula too, although the latter is a bit laced with holes thanks to our most difficult pest – the flea beetle.  And we have beautiful and delicious fingerling potatoes and garlic!

The share for this week will be:  Squash, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, garlic, choice of chard or arugula, fingerling potatoes, melon or watermelon, cauliflower, red cabbage, beans, tomatoes and peppers.   For extras, there will be tomatillos and hot peppers.

Enjoy!  Farmer John