We seem to be turning a corner out here on the farm. Spring is rapidly moving along towards summer, or maybe it’s not. Over the weekend we had temperatures in the mid 30s on the farm and today it was close to 90. These temperature swings keep us really busy protecting warm weather crops and worrying whether the cool weather crops will bolt pre-maturely, leaving us without a salable crop. That’s it for the challenging news, on to the good news…
On Monday we had a huge crew out to help and Vanessa organized everyone into teams to plant, plant, plant. They got the peppers and eggplant in, along with lots more flowers, including a whole bed of sunflowers (over 600 plants). The spring planted onions were weeded. Alex hopped on our little cultivating tractor and hilled all the potatoes, which are looking really good. They took down the row cover and hoops that were protecting the first round of squash and cucumbers (which are looking good as well). They moved those hoops and row cover over to cover the eggplant which are especially susceptible to flea beetle damage as young plants. So the cover acts as a physical barrier that the little beetles can’t get through.
We irrigated the entire farm over the last two days, dropping the water level of our pond a few inches. The closer one gets to the pond, the ground seems to move around your feet. Because we don’t have any fish in our pond yet, there are no predators to eat all the tadpoles in the pond. The little toadlets are pouring out of the pond! There are just thousands and thousands of them, all hopping around, it’s very difficult not to step on them.
Please return your CSA box next week. These boxes are waxed and are not recyclable, but we reuse them. So PLEASE remember to bring them back next week.
Ideas for Cooking
Kohlrabi! It’s the really weird looking purple vegetable in your box. You can use the greens like any other greens, they are a little similar to collards. The main bulb needs to be peeled and then can be chopped up in any size and shape that you wish.
Please return your CSA box next week. These boxes are waxed and are not recyclable, but we reuse them. So PLEASE remember to bring them back next week.
Ideas for Cooking
Kale chips with the green kale. A raw kale salad with either of the kales. Add a little grated parmesan cheese and some salt. Enjoy a great salad with the lettuce mix, adding the sugar snaps!