Farm News – June 4, 2018
Hi Folks, I hope you had a pleasant Memorial Day weekend. I apologize that I have not been able to get a farm update out to you until now. It has been a very difficult spring for us here at the farm. I am sure that most of you noticed that winter hung around well into April this year. We still had snow flurries flying on April 13! As a result we were unable to begin planting until Mid- April; about 2 weeks later that normal for some crops. In addition, the cold soil caused poor emergence in some of the early direct seeded crops, such as peas. We worked diligently to get caught up with our spring planting and had largely succeeded. We were then a bit behind on setting out some of the warm weather crops. We were getting caught up on these when we had a week of rain, including a strong storm which ripped the plastic off one of our high tunnel greenhouses and knocked power out for three days! We are now back on track and continue to work hard to ensure a bountiful season.
Unfortunately, the delayed start and slow plant growth we experienced has caused delayed maturity of most of the early crops. We simply will not have a sufficient number of items to make a delivery worthwhile at present. The original plan was to start deliveries during the week of June 3rd, next week. We will have to postpone the start of the season until the following week, June 10th. Farming is an endeavor replete with challenges and setbacks. In so many ways we are at the mercy of the weather. As veteran members know, we do not give up. We roll with the punches and keep moving ahead. In 15 years of CSA farming this is the first time I have needed to delay the start of the season and it is very disconcerting for me to do so. The early shares are always somewhat small and we will do our best to make up for the missed week during the rest of the season. I thank you for your patience and understanding.
The Farm visit will be held on Saturday, June 23 with Sunday June 24th as a rain date or for those who cannot make it on Saturday. Save the date! I will have more info out about this event and other opportunities to visit the farm and help out as a volunteer in the near future.
Best, Farmer John
