Category: News

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 30, 2019

Hello Everyone! We continue to experience dry conditions here on the farm. This past week we received a scant 0.2 inches of rain. We were hoping for a bit more overnight Saturday but it never arrived. I was anxiously watching the radar as bands of rain moved across Pennsylvania, but the storms either dropped all their moisture to the west of us or passed to the north. Our next chance for precipitation is on Thursday – fingers crossed. Meanwhile, we continue to move the sprinklers around the field to get the most important crops the water that they need. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 23, 2019

Hello Everyone! So, we received no rain at all this past week. After a wet spring and summer, fall is looking to be on the dry side. We have a chance for some showers early Monday evening which we are hoping will materialize. I am in the final week of seeding fall crops – spinach, turnips, radishes, cilantro, arugula, and other mustard greens. Since we have sandy soil the surface dries out quickly, and we have been moving the sprinklers around to ensure good germination of these plantings. We are also expecting broccoli and cauliflower to begin heading up soon and these crops need a lot of water. It appears that we will need to utilize the overhead irrigation on these crops to ensure good head size. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 16, 2019

Hi Folks! The weather continues to be copacetic; warm days and seasonably cool nights with just under an inch of rain for the week. The rain came in the wee hours of the morning, so it did not interfere with our work. Let’s hope that it continues like this for the next 5 or 6 weeks! (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 9, 2019

Hello Everyone! It was a good week of weather here on the farm; just a small amount of precipitation and perfect temperatures. It is getting a bit chilly at night as autumn begins to move in. One major benefit of the cool nights is that it prompts one of our most pernicious pests, the flea beetle, to move underground in preparation for their long winter sleep. We can now grow arugula and other mustard greens without having them riddled with tiny holes! (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 2, 2019

Hi Folks, I hope you all had a pleasant holiday weekend. Here on the farm of course, we celebrate Labor Day by laboring. Our labors were complicated a bit this morning’s rain. We were expecting more rain in the afternoon, which never materialized, so we harvested a number of crops wet and had to dry them as best we could with fans in the barn. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 26, 2019

Hello Everyone! So, the heat wave broke and now we have a little taste of fall. The nights have been a bit chilly up here in the mountains of NW New Jersey! The daytime temps will be creeping back up into the 80’s, but the nights will be dipping into the low 60’s. It seems that we might get a brief break from the frequent rain in the coming weeks, although this Wednesday looks to be a little wet. Somewhat drier conditions will be welcomed, as we have lots of potatoes to harvest, and the digger doesn’t work well when the ground is saturated. It may also give us a chance to do some work on the farm roads, which are deeply rutted in most of the low spots around the fields. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 19, 2019

Hi Folks! So, it continues to rain regularly here on the farm. We received almost 2½ inches over the past week, a bit more than the inch per week that is ideal. I’m not complaining though — it’s been good for the thousands of transplants we’ve been setting out, as well as helpful for germinating the direct seeded crops. It’s come mostly in the evening and overnight which means it hasn’t interfered with our work. In case you hadn’t noticed we’re in the throes of another heat wave, which might be worth complaining about if it would do any good. Besides, I’m still working on my string of consecutive weeks without complaining about the weather! Although the Guinness folks haven’t returned my call yet. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 12, 2019

Hi Everyone! So, the weather continues to be excellent for both plants and humans! If this keeps up, it will be a Circle Brook Farm update record for consecutive weeks without complaining about the weather! Maybe I should call the Guinness Book of World records folks – I understand they’ll certify just about anything if there’s enough money in it. There are strong storms forecast for tomorrow, so we’ll have to wait and see how that goes. In the meantime, we have lots of nice produce heading your way! (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 5, 2019

Hi Everyone!  So, we begin as usual, with the weather report.  We had two light rains over the weekend totaling about a half an inch.  This was greatly appreciated as we are in the process of transplanting the fall brassica crops as well as direct-seeding other crops for harvest during the second half of the season.  Generally, we have been receiving plenty of sunshine and warm, yet not scorching, temperatures.  All in all, I would say the weather has been copacetic and is predicted to remain so for the next couple of weeks.  We did have a large planting of fall carrots and a planting of dill and cilantro fail to germinate after the heavy rain 2 weeks back.  I am in the process of replanting but had to order more seed, since I used up all of my favorite varieties. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – July 29, 2019

Hi Folks!  So after a brief respite, the heat is on again.  It looks like it will break by Wednesday or Thursday.  I imagine there will be a few more heat waves to endure yet this season!  We did receive too much rain (3½ inches!) after the last scorcher.  The combination of extreme temps and wetness took its toll on our lettuce crop, and we won’t have it in the shares for a few weeks. (more…)