June is one of those months where all the different farm tasks come together and everything has to be done right now. The harvest is in full swing, with vegetables and berries ripening quickly and needing to be picked and sold. The weeds are also growing in leaps and bounds, requiring hoeing and tractor cultivating to keep them from overwhelming the crops. Meanwhile seeding and planting has to happen for the fall crops or we’ll miss the window for those. And everything needs to be kept watered and monitored for pest and disease problems.
Last week was extremely productive on all these fronts and, although Steve seems exhausted and somewhat dazed, he’s breathing a little easier. (This sense of accomplishment will be short-lived, of course, because you never really catch up on all the farm tasks that need to be done.)
On Saturday Steve (and Jonathan, our second tractor driver) finished planting the pumpkins and winter squashes. Since we’re concerned about our well, we’re trying to use the home farm mostly for crops like squashes that we can put on drip irrigation, with the exception of the fields in which we will plant the strawberries next year–these are planted in broccoli because it is a good rotation crop for strawberries. Much of the rest of the farm that isn’t orchard or blueberry patch is now planted to pumpkins and squashes. If we can keep the powdery mildew at bay, we can look forward to delicata, carnival, spaghetti, hubbard, orange and green kabocha, and butternut squashes this fall and winter. The pumpkin patch will consist of winter luxury pie pumpkins, rouge vif d’etampes (Cinderellas), and Jack O’Lantern pumpkins.
The Lewis Road and Redman House fields are in full swing now. In the hoophouses, the tomatoes and peppers are growing fast. We should start to see some tomatoes in early-mid July – heirlooms, Early Girl types, slicers, and cherry tomatoes. Padron peppers should also start coming in the next few weeks, as well as beans. A planting of filet and romano beans are just a couple weeks off. French shelling beans will come in a little later in summer. We’ll also see more broccoli, colored cauliflower, cabbages, purplette onions, baby leeks and of course carrots, greens and lettuces.
Our CSA deliveries are down because of people going on vacation, so tell your friends to sign up. We’ve got a lot of produce coming in and somebody has to eat all these delicious veggies and berries! We’ll give you $10 web store credit if a new member mentions you during sign up. Thanks!
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
