Hello Folks, the weather has been copacetic this past week – one cold night but no frost. We are currently getting some rain, but it is not expected to be excessive. We are still waiting for a large planting of string beans to size up. They are growing very slowly but we should have enough for some groups this week and for the rest by next week. This will be the gasp for the summer vegetables.
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Hello everyone, so after three weeks without rain we received a little over three inches last week. We have gone from bone-dry to muddy conditions, but at least we have a respite from moving the sprinklers around. Nighttime temperatures have been dropping, but we have not had any more frosts. At this point we are covering anything tender and worth saving anytime the forecast calls for temps in the thirties. We have a large planting of beans which have been flowering profusely and are loaded with small pods. They are growing very slowly with the shorter days and cool nights,…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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.