The activity level on the farm has been ratcheted up these last few weeks. This time of year finding time to do anything other than harvesting is difficult. We have three crops—strawberries, blueberries and squash—that have to be picked 2-3 times a week and when you throw in all of the other crops we are harvesting there is very little time left for all of the planting, weeding, pruning and other activities that have to happen to keep the farm going.
Nevertheless, we have been able to find the time here and there to prep beds and lay down drip tape in preparation of planting winter squash and pumpkins. We are also scrambling to keep up with the tomato plants which need to be pruned and trained every week or so as they stretch out toward the high-tunnel ceilings. And then there are the ever-present weeds which, if left alone, can quickly out-compete crops that we either direct seed or transplant every week.
On top of i
t all is the constant maintenance which needs to be done. Even though our farm is modest in size, we still have five tractors, four trucks and dozens of implements of all shapes and sizes. At any given time there is always something that is either due or over-due for routine maintenance. Finding time, especially when the some of the various trucks and tractors are in near constant use, is a challenge for sure.
And finally a word about these late rains we are having (another storm is slated to arrive early Thursday morning). Although I realize that it is complete heresy to complain about rain during a major drought, I can’t help feeling that these rains would have been a lot more welcome if they had fallen back in February or March. And while it is true that they lessen the amount of water we use to irrigate with, the late rains have a way of wreaking havoc with our strawberry crop. When you manage the crop by leaving the fruit on the plant until it is truly ripe, it makes for great flavor, but it also leaves the fruit more vulnerable when the rains come. Ripe strawberries absorb water like a sponge and quickly become infected by various, ever-present mold spore. It can be a sad sight to see the furrows littered with discarded fruit after a rain has come through.
Oh well, to appropriate a phrase from my friend Andy, who in turn appropriated it from the movie The Godfather, “it is the life we have chosen.”
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