Farm News – August 14, 2017

Hi Folks!  So, we begin, as always, with the weather report.   We received a whopping two and a half inches of the wet stuff over a 12-hour period last Friday.  Fortunately, it fell mostly at night and did not rain on any of my weekend markets. Also fortunate is that we have well drained sandy soil. 

It was another blow to the already doomed tomato crop, and I am a bit worried about the cucurbit crops (squash, melons, and cukes of course).  So far, they look ok, but we need some sun and some warmth.  More rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow; hopefully it won’t be too heavy!  In addition to disease worries, the wet conditions impede seeding the fall crops, and make harvesting potatoes more difficult.

We are temporarily out of lettuce; a result of some bolting in the field, as well as a break in our succession planting due to poor germination in the greenhouse.  This is fairly typical; it’s hard to grow lettuce during the dog days of summer!  Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be able to say: lettuce begin! We have more tomatoes than we can possibly pick at the moment (or fit on the truck for that matter).  We will do our best to share the abundance with you.  We have another nice share for you this week, in spite of the challenges Mother Nature presents.

The share for this week will be: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, red skin potatoes, choice of kale or chard, rainbow carrots, white onions, choice of cherry tomatoes or ground cherries, beans, and either a melon or a watermelon.  Premium members will receive choice of an herb and choice of tatsoi or arugula. 

The fruit share for this week will be:  Red Clapp pears and nectarines.

Enjoy!  Farmer John