There are only a couple of beds left over from the Spring plantings. With some hard work we’ll get the few remnants mowed down and disced. The farm has an ebb and flow to it, generally form order to chaos and back again. Many times throughout the year we may walk down to the fields and see total chaos, weeds taking over, and bolted crops. Those visions can produce a lot of anxiety for the farmers. But, there are those days, they usually occur a day or so after the anxiety inducing ones, that we get on the tractor and mow it all down and disc it all up, producing a nice blank field. Relief.
I’m feeling that the CSA box this week is a little light in terms of produce, so we added some honey to sweeten the deal. Hopefully next week some new crops will catch up to us and we’ll put together another full box of produce. Some things to look forward to are sweet corn and pole beans.
Nick’s Corner
I’ve always associated spring with planting seeds, watching them grow and then enjoying what they produce. Among the many things that I’m learning while farming is that there is always a seed that needs to be started. Who would have thought that we would have one of the biggest seed starting days we’ve had in months on July 1st? Well we sowed almost 50 trays of various Fall crops on that faithful day. Some of the seeds have already graced us with their prescence as seedlings. In addition to starting a ton of seeds, we did a little planting as well. It was our hope to get our newly plowed fields ready for planting but alas, the list of things to do around the farm has continued to grow long and the fields were not ready in time.
We took on quite the large job this past week as well. In one of our fields we have some corn planted and the weeds had begun to take up residence amongst our healthy corn plants. These guests were uninvited and had already begun to overstay their welcome so an eviction notice was posted and after they refused to leave on our terms we made them leave with the use of force. Thanks to the help of our wonderful CSA members and a UNCA student now working part time on the farm we were able to rid the corn of the weeds in around three days of hoeing. Thanks to everyone for all of their help. It would have been quite the job without y’all.
The fourth of July is one of those holidays that is just flat out fun. All three of us interns took a trip to Green Toe Ground Farm in Celo, NC for a Fourth of July party. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a party as fun as the party at Green Toe. Rope swings, Farm Olympics (which your interns placed 3rd out of 16 teams), Good adult beverages, live music, a dance party, farm fashion show, camping and the list goes on and on. To say the least farmers know how to throw a great party, with great people and some great food. Just a great way to celebrate Independence Day.