As harvest was going along this morning we started to think about what it took to get to the point of harvest of the beautiful broccoli that is now in your CSA boxes. We started the seeds in cell trays and Megan watered them for 5-6 weeks. The crew planted the seedlings out, laid drip tape down to water them, placed hoops over the bed and then covered them with row cover to protect them from flea beetles and harlequin bugs. Once the plants got large enough, we uncovered them and weeded them. Then every week they were watered, looked over for harlequin bugs, and sprayed with Bt, which is a bacteria that kills the caterpillars that eat the plants of the broccoli and cabbage family. So after 5 or so weeks of that routine, I went out this morning to harvest the beautiful florets. Enjoy.
We’re really starting to feel the farm work easy up this week. There’s still plenty to do, but none of it seems like we have to hurry up and get it down. There’s plenty of cleaning up to do, harvesting the popcorn, field corn, and finally the sorghum. We can walk instead of run these days and that feels nice. We’re already getting applications for next season from prospective interns!
We were thinking about offering a two to four week extension to the CSA for $25 per week. At this point it’s still theoretical, but we’d like to see how much interest there is. We would be offering many of the same vegetables you’re getting now: winter squashes, potatoes, multiplier onions, greens, lettuces, turnips, that sort of thing. There may be less diversity during this time, just more of each item, many of which are easily stored for use through the winter. Let us know if you’d be interested. Thanks
Nick’s Corner
As usual things are in constant motion here at the farm, and I often times wonder how we keep up with all that’s happening. In most recent news our cover crop is coming up. I always think it’s amazing to see a nice carpet of green covering such a large area, and know that it’s not weeds that need to be hoed. All we need now is a little more rain, so that the small amount of green turns into lush amounts of green.
One of the fun things that we grow here at Full Sun Farm has come in out of the field. Our popcorn is finally out of the field and is in the process of being shucked and dried so that it will be the prime center of your eating, next time you pop in a movie. Popping popcorn on the stove can be as exciting and/or thrilling as any Bond movie you might watch. The tiny explosions that we associate with the “POP!” of popcorn is actually the releasing of steam inside the kernel, turning it inside out and expanding the kernel to nearly 30-40 times it’s original size. Popcorn was originally native to Central America and was one of the main forms of corn grown before the Europeans came in the 15th and 16th century. It seems that popcorn has made the US it’s home where nearly all of the popcorn is grown in Indiana, Nebraska and Illinois, but the best popcorn is grown here at Full Sun Farm. The only thing that I don’t know is how this delicious snack found it’s almost exclusive association with movies…