We have prepared all the strawberry beds for next year’s crop, and this week we start planting the strawberries themselves. The lack of rain has made this task go perfectly smoothly, but it has thrown a wrench into our cover cropping. We try to conserve water as much as possible, and most years we time the planting of as many of our cover crops as possible to correspond with fall rain storms. So, while we planted and watered in cover crops on the hillsides long ago (to assure that when the rains do come, the plants are established to hold the soil in place), we’ve been waiting on the flat fields, hoping to plant the day before rain is expected. The only problem is, aside from a few teasers that didn’t pan out, no rain is expected. We’re also faced with having to irrigate the cover crops we’ve already planted so that they don’t wither away. It is a dilemma. In general environmental terms, we should be conserving water during drought times like this. Water is also very expensive, so that it doesn’t make sense economically to irrigate a winter cover crop, which of course won’t be harvested and sold. On the other hand, cover cropping is an important part of the way we farm. It prevents erosion, improves the soil texture, and provides natural fertilizer for the fields. So, having waited as long as we feel we can, we’ll go ahead and get in there to plant cover crops on the remaining fallow fields, water them up and hope that the rain eventually comes so we don’t have to continue to irrigate them. Anyone know a good rain dance?
We’re starting to harvest from the fall planting Steve did in our hoophouses on Lewis Road, most of which will come in for winter box harvests. Some delicious new carrots and a planting of beans is almost ready, too–we hope to have these in time for next week’s box, the last delivery of the regular season.
Remember, there is no delivery Thanksgiving week. If you are on an every other week schedule and you get a box this week, your next delivery will be December 4th or 5th.
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