Farm News – May 20, 2026

Hello everyone, I apologize for not having written an update sooner. The first of my workers finally arrived on April 20th and a few more the next day. Since then, we have been working diligently to get caught up with the planting. My crew has been working 70 hour weeks, and I have been putting in even more hours, which is my excuse for not having written sooner. We are now mostly back on track, although there will still be some consequences to the late start.

The delayed onion planting will mean smaller bulbs than desired, because bulb formation is triggered by day-length (long days) and the plants will still be small when we reach the summer solstice. On the first evening of my workers’ arrival, we had a hard freeze (20 degrees) We were able to cover the peas with row covers to protect them, but our strawberries were severely damaged. This freeze extended all the way into South Jersey, where much of the blueberry and peach crop was lost. Since then, the weather had been uncharacteristically cooperative, with mild temperatures and gentle rains, mostly at night. I say “had” because the last week has been very dry and now, we are in the second heat wave of the season. We are struggling to keep water on multiple acres to keep recently planted seeds germinating and established crops from burning up. We will get through it, somehow.

Many thanks to those who came out to lend a hand earlier in the season- it was greatly appreciated. Just three weeks to go before the start of the season!

Farmer John