Farm News – June 23, 2025
Hi Everyone, Happy summer! It seems that Mother nature has decided to celebrate summer’s arrival with the first major heat wave of the season. It’s brutal out there! I like to joke about how much I complain about the weather, but it is not so much complaining as keeping you, the members informed on events and circumstances that affect our ability to grow high quality produce.
We do our best to mitigate and work around the challenges that the weather sends our way, but there are limits to what we can do. When there is a drought we can irrigate, when there is a cold snap, we can cover tender plants. But when it rains and drizzles for gray days and days on end, we are helpless. Plants need rain but they also need sunshine to grow and develop the sugars and other compounds that give the crops flavor. Excessive rain allows the weeds to grow unchecked because we cannot cultivate with tractors. Dampness favors disease development, especially fungal. Saturated soil cannot be tilled to prepare for planting or planted into if already prepped. This is what our spring has been like and now we face the challenge of excessive heat. I will discuss the effects of the heat wave in the next episode.
We are still heavy on greens – lettuce and spinach, enjoy them now since they will soon be scarce until fall. We have another round of radishes for you, which also will not return until autumn. Remember that you can cook them in soups or stir fries and they lose their heat. We have begun to cut broccoli and cauliflower, as well as Napa cabbage. These will be in rotation in the coming weeks as availability allows. Some groups will receive one type of brassica and other groups another type of brassica, until everyone has received all three.
The share for this week will be: Lettuce (2 heads for basic and premium shares), spinach, choice of kale or collards, radishes, bok choy, summer squash, snow peas, choice of herb (cilantro, dill, marjoram, chervil), broccoli or cauliflower (or perhaps Napa cabbage) and garlic scapes. There will be English peas as an “extra.” Premium shares will also include a choice of escarole or frisée and a second herb.
There will be blueberries and nectarines for the first fruit share.
Enjoy! Farmer John
