Category: News

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 28, 2020

Hi Everyone! Farming can be a very rewarding endeavor – producing high quality food in a sustainable and environmentally conscious manner is important and gratifying. It can also be tremendously heartbreaking. As last week went by, the extent of the damage from four successive night of frost became apparent. We tried to cover and protect as much of the more sensitive crops as we could, but it is not possible to cover ten or more acres of crops. I estimate the losses to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. Some of this loss is manifest as income loss on crops we would have sold at market – we loss most of our cut flowers for example. Some of the loss is reflected in both market sales losses and what we have available to put in the CSA shares, reducing the value of the shares. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 21, 2020

Hello Folks, so the weather has turned on us again. It has been nearly 2 weeks with no rain and another week to go before any precipitation is predicted. Worse than that we have had frost on 3 consecutive nights with a fourth forecast for tonight. I say forecast but actually the predictions have been for 37-38 degrees and there were no frost warnings. We covered some of the more delicate crops on the first night and then, once we saw the effects, started covering as much as we could. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 14, 2020

Hi All! So, the days are getting shorter and the nights cooler. This begins to slow down the warm weather crops. We are taking a break from peppers for a week or two to allow the fruit to size up and ripen, so that we can get you another round of colored peppers. We also hope to send eggplant one more time this season – the plants are loaded with fruit but are growing very slowly. We will have to see how long we can keep the zucchini coming… (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 7, 2020

Hi Folks, I hope you had a pleasant and safe Labor Day weekend. Of course, here on the farm every day is labor day, which I suppose is better than every day being Ground Hog day but not as good as every day being Christmas. We’re working hard for you! The good news for this week is that we have summer squash and zucchini coming in again. The bad news is that our tomato production has plummeted. We will try to get everyone a few more tomatoes over the next couple of weeks. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 31, 2020

Hi Everyone!  We received .4 inches of rain from the remnants of Laura on Saturday.  We may get a little more precipitation tomorrow.  Soil moisture is good, seeds are sprouting, and the transplants have taken root.  Mostly moderate temperatures are forecast for the week ahead but with some cool nights. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 24, 2020

Hi Folks!  So I guess I misspoke when I said that the extreme heat was done for the year, as we are amid several more scorching days.  We had a few minor rains during the week, sufficient to help transplants to take root and seeds to germinate.  As I expected, my early August planting of spinach was almost completely killed by excessive rain from the tropical storm.  The next planting has germinated well and should be ready to cut in a month or so.  Greens in general are still scarce.  We will have some arugula next week and should have lettuce again as well.

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Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 17, 2020

Hello Folks, it seems that we may we over with the scorching heat for this season.  Hopefully, the precipitation will be a little more regular going forward.  We received about 0.3 inches on Sunday and have a chance for some more of the wet stuff this afternoon.  We are in the process of transplanting the fall brassica crop and a little rain really helps them to take root. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 10, 2020

Hello all, we received 5” of rain from tropical storm Isaias but no real damage from the wind. It was too much rain all at once, but we have sandy, well drained soils, and most of the precipitation soaked in. We had just finished rolling up the sidewalls on most of our high tunnel greenhouses and had to run around closing them all up again or risk damage to the structures. I hope that those of you who lost power have been restored by now and did not sustain too much other damage. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 3, 2020

Hi Folks, Batten down the hatches! We’re going to have a blow! For the second time this season we are counting on a tropical storm to bring us some rain. I am reminded of the lyrics of a Michael Franti song- “…when rain didn’t have to mean a hurricane”. We just hope it does not come too hard, too fast, and that the winds do not do much damage. At least you will not have to read my complaints about how dry it is for a while! (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – July 27, 2020

Hello everyone, we received about 6/10 of an inch of precipitation this past week from 2 light overnight rains.  It seems Mother Nature is doling out the moisture with an eye dropper!  These light rains help a little, especially when they occur at night and have a chance to seep in.  We really need a good soaking rain, and our best chance for the week is tomorrow – 50%. (more…)