Hi Folks, so it was another scorching week, and no rain fell.  We just received about a quarter of an inch of the wet stuff along with gale force winds at the time of this writing, with more possible this evening.  There are multiple chances for rain from thunderstorms later in the week into next week, so fingers crossed… (more…)

We will once again offer a fruit share for the 2016 season. It will be a slightly shorter season (12 weeks) and comes with some caveats.  All of the local fruit producers have had a very bad season due to late frosts and freezes in the spring.  Many have lost their entire crop of plums and apricots and have had significant losses with peaches and nectarines.  Normally most of the fruit we distribute comes from an organic farm in the Hudson Valley, NY.  While the farm grows their vegetable crops organically, the fruit is labeled Eco-grown.  This means that they adhere as much as possible to organic methods but do spray when necessary with products not approved for organic production.  These sprays are primarily early in the season when the fruit is just setting.  The farm regularly tests the fruit to insure it is free of pesticide residues. (more…)

Hello Everyone!  So the heat wave continues; great for those warm weather crops but not so easy on my crew and I.  We received ¾ of an inch of rain this past week from a downpour which lasted about 20 minutes.  While this is not ideal, we are grateful for any precipitation.  Eggplant and peppers have begun, and we are harvesting the first few tomatoes.  We believe we will have enough peppers and eggplant to provide a small quantity to all groups.  If we run short, we will start a rotation to cover all members in the next 2 weeks. (more…)

Hi Everyone, it was brutally hot last week but I guess most of you noticed that.  We continue to receive much needed rain and I am very busy catching up with planting.  We have another marvelous share for you this week.  It turns out we still have some snow and sugar snap peas available, although the quantity will be less.  We have delicious sweet onions with green tops (edible or good for soup stock).  These are not good keepers, so use them up within a week or so.  We are in rotation with the broccoli still, so it will be kale or broccoli, whatever you did not get last week.  We have abundant squash and cucumbers as well as cooking greens.   (more…)

Hi Folks!  So we finally got some rain:  about 2” from several passing storms.  Most of the precipitation came in deluges, which is less than ideal but we are grateful for what we get.  One of these I narrowly escaped as I rushed out of the field on my small seeding tractor after planting some carrots.  I had just pulled it into the barn when the skies opened up and I was trapped there for a half an hour until the heavy rain abated.  That’s the good news… (more…)

Hello Everyone!  So we are still waiting for some rain.  There is some in the forecast for tonight and Tuesday but they have been wrong so many times now…  I mentioned a rain dance in last week’s episode.  My form of rain dance is to head out into the fields on my seeding tractor to do some planting.  This has worked often in the past to get the skies to open up but I tried it last week and only managed to squeeze out a few drops! (more…)

Hello Everyone!  So we continue to experience dry conditions here on the farm.  We have had several more predicted rainfalls fail to arrive.  We have another shot at a little precipitation overnight on Monday and perhaps a better chance of the wet stuff on Thursday.   Keep your fingers crossed, say a prayer or perhaps do a rain dance if you are so inclined.  In the meantime, we will continue to move the sprinklers around the fields and employ creative tricks to get the seeds to sprout. (more…)

Hello Everyone!  So we waited with a mixture of anticipation and dread for the severe storms predicted for Saturday.  We badly need the rain but worried about the high winds and potential for hail.  In the end we got no rain at all, only 2 days of high winds that have been wreaking havoc with our crop covers and drying out the soil even more.  There is some hope for precipitation at the end of the week; in the meantime, we will be moving the sprinklers around from field to field to keep the crops growing and the seeds germinating. (more…)

Hi Folks! We finally got some rain here at the farm on Sunday, just over an inch.  We need more but are grateful for what we receive.

We have essentially lost the first planting of arugula, broccoli raab, and tatsoi as a result of the dry conditions and the heat wave. It had been under siege from a pernicious pest – the flea beetle – and was covered with an Ag fabric to protect it.   (more…)