Foggy Valley Breakdown

Fog in July? Unusual? probably not but I'm not sure if I recall ever seeing it. I'm sure I have but don't remember. Whatever.

Just heading out to harvest. Big day here and as always this time of year things are in tight demand. We have a little of a lot of things. Except Fava beans which we are entirely loaded to the gills with.

Oh tomato dear tomato, where art thou tomato. Lots of greenies just starting to turn. Two weeks from know we'll be in the schwing.

Lots of starts in flats ready to go and more on the way. Running a little late. Don't ye tarry, the sun is shining now is not the time to delay.

Off to the fields.

Farmer John

Whirlwind Of Weeding

If you run out of things to do on a small farm there is always weeding to be done. We've been able to stay on top of most things. It's pretty much like the Golden Gate Bridge or owing a wooden boat. By the time you finish on section it's time to pick up where you started an re-weed from the beginning. Working v ery hard to not let things go to seed and to keep our crops growing un-checked from weed pressure. It's amazing just how fast they can grow. Especially challenging is keep the newley emerging beds cultivated so the crops don't just get smotherd in weed. I tried to flame weed a new block of beets last night but I think I missed it by a day. Eventually I chickened out and did not flame. (sorry boys I had you pull those drip tapes in vain) Now I'll have to resort to hoeing.

Some of our fall starts are ready for transplant and we are still sowing in flats to have crops ready to go in as bed space becomes available. Lots of direct sowing as well. This is the time to get in your beets, turnips and the like. We're planning for crops that will be ready for our indoor markets beginning in October. Sales can be strong if you have the product so we're trying not to drop the ball here. The hardest part about starting things in flats this time of year is to keep them properly hydrated. We have to water three times a day or else the cells dry out and checks growth.


All the while we must be keeping up on our market and wholesale account harvests. It's tricky at times to keep everything roling without having gaps in production. We're doing OK. As always and ironically, we seem to have a lull in the action this time of year. With the odd weather we've had, tomato and other heat loving crops like squash, cucumbers and such are behind a bit. Hopefully these things will kick in here real soon.

What we do have is alot of fava bean and sugar snap peas! It's been a very interesting year for me from a variety stand point.. We have a very eclectic mix of produce. As someone who enjoys cooking I'm pretty exited about things like radicchio, arrowhead cabbage, bulb fennel, fava beans and all of the culinary herbs. There have been some great dishes coming out of the kitchen. I don't care what anyone says, Grilled radicchio kicks ass! It also is a lovely addition to risotto.

All of this said, life is good. I feel like we're having a great year.

Take care peeps.

Farmer John

Holy bajole

Farm sites are all looking pretty good. We've been weeding, weeding weeding. It's a constant battle. We're looking good for now, give it a couple of weeks. We had one spot that I had sown about six beds of beets into that just got swamped in weeds. There was no way to save them. I opted for the till, re-sow method. It's alot easier. I'll have to be more on the emerging weeds this time. Good call for the flamer. Some times the weeds seem to be more apt to germinate. If you believe in working within the astrological wings, perhaps timing your sowings to the times when weed pressure is lower would be a good thing. I actually am a believer. there have been times when I have worked soil and there was very little weed pressure. Life is all in the timing.

Speaking of timing, that means not screwing up the timing to make us run out of salad greens. I don't think I've ever had a year we did'nt have a gap and it looks like we're headed for one this week. I'm hoping to get the account orders filled but am afraid we won't have greens for market. Bummer. It won't be a long gap though and hopefully the only one we have.

I'm a little bleary eyed at the moment but all is well and we are having a great year. Lovi'n it!

Cheers,

Farmer John

Staying On Top

Being a good farmer / gardner is alot about staying on top of the weeds. It's a non stop task. We've been on it pretty good this year. Using the tractor is a big help, espescially in the paths where in years past things have turned into a jungle. We try not to hand weed too much but last night I did get on my knees for about three hours clearing out a couple of beds of beets and fennel. A pain yes, but very much an instant gratification job. Weeding always make me feel better about me. We use hoes too. Especially in-row and between delicate seedlings. Hitting them early before you can even see them is a big benefit and helps us from losing things. If there's one thing I've learned it's to get the weeds before they get you. I'ts just a few minutes per bed with a hoe VS. hours on your hands and knees if you let hem go. Morale buster for sure. The quality of your crops is much higher with proper weeding as well. Obviously less competition for sunlight, water and nutrient. Plants will be leggy and weak at best if there is too much weed pressure. We try not to let weeds go to seed. We fail sometimes and pay a dear price. "one year seed, seven year weed" is very much a true statement. We hve a couple of weed ridden beds that we are trying to get a hold back onto by using buckwheat cover crop. My intent is to roll it down just prior to flowering and plant some fall crops into it. I'll keep you updated on how that does or does not work.

Fall gardners? Today is your day. This is the cutoff for sowing fall peas, beans, summer squash, cukes and corn. We will be putting in sugar snap peas and green beans today. Along with yes, you guessed it, more weeding! Also harvesting a ton of peas, Well, not a ton but hopefully a couple hundred pounds. Tomorrow we'll be harvesting strawberries for market and another couple hundred pounds of fava beans plus all the other stuff. Time to roll.

Keep well,

Farmer John

Water Works

Yep, Time to irrigate. Yesterday was all about the water. Most of the morning was spent on dialing in our greenhouse setups. We still have alot of work to install our new drip emitters on our grow bag set ups but it will be time well spent. We also pulled t-tapes on a couple of new sections we just direct sowed. As warm and dry as it's been, Ill go ahead and give an overhead watering just to ensure good germination. Overhead watering all of our beds at the home farm as well, except for the garlic which has already received too much water from all of the rain and is suffering from basal plate rot. Bummer. It was looking so good. It's not a total loss but we won't know till harvest, which actually wont be too long. Time is flying. not enough hours in the day.

Today is harvest/ delivery day for our commercial accounts and market harvest as well. I'm out at first light.

Cheers

Farmer John

Growing Local

Well now look what we have here, my god man, is that the sun? We actually broke a sweat yesterday. Hallelujah! Everything in the field is loving it. Yesterday we noticed the first baby summer squash's on the plant. It wont be long for zucchini! Strawberries will be on next week they are loaded. Some tomatoes on the vine but mostly flowers. Corn and beans are growing fast and everything is looking good. I can honestly say our quality this year is about as good as I've ever seen. Feeling very proud of what we are taking to market. Despite being slighty off schedule from the weather we ar having a great year.

It's funny how one year can vary from another. Each year seems to have it's challanges and pay offs. One big change this year is that we are seeing a substantial increase in our commercial accounts. More restaraunts and our current accounts are ordering more produce. I think its safe to say it's a pretty clear indication of the economy which from my view does appear to be improving slightly. Traffic on the island appears to be brisk. Ironically, our market sales are down. Go fiqure. It's hard to tell what's happening for sure. Is it that we don't have strawberries and some of our higher volume crops on yet? Are people tiring of the market? It's hard to say. It feels like to me, we have less traffic coming through. I hope this is just a glitch. There are great deals at the market and a vibrant, fun atmosphere. Come on down!

With the sun comes respnsibility. Watering is a big issue and takes up alot of our time. We use mostly drip irrigation. Works great and uses less water. The benefits of being able to turn on a valve and water your beds far outways the hassle of laying drip tapes. It can take several hours to set up a field but this is generally a one time deal per crop issue. We do overhead water some things but then you become a slave to moving the hose. We're on the go most of the time and this becomes a more difficult issue. Easy is good. We like easy.

speaking of which, take er easy.

farmer John

Quiet

It's been a whirl wind around here so no blog posts lately. It's kind of like the hush that comes to the table as folks begin to eat. Busy chewin, not flappin their jaws.

Market was dismal yesterday. Not for sure what happened. Beautiful day, lots of produce but not too many people. Things will improve as more product comes on. We had baby arrowhead cabbage yesterday and next week will be the first broccoli and fava beans. One thing I'm seeing and need to keep in perspective is that since our CSA members shop off our table at the market and we have increased our membership we need to bring more to market to satisfy the demand and still have enough product to keep an appealing display and have enough product on hand to allow us to maximize our cash sales. I've found that once your display starts to look depleted sales decrease. We can sell a hundred bunches of radishes but those last six never seem to leave the table. Marketing is a bigger deal for a small farmer than most of us realize.

We've been trying to stay ahead of the weeds. Good weather for pulling thistle but not as good for hoeing and tractor cultivating. Just a little too wet. We've been planting out about as fast as we can. The wet weather has slowed the field prep down so once again (as always) we are short on space. I will say that even though the weather has set us back a bit it has also helped us. I like the rain and so do the crops. Everything is just beautiful, so verdant and full of flavor. Water truly is the vehicle that delivers the nutrient to the plant. It's obvoius after a period like we've had that we probably don't water enough during our normal conditions.

Sunday morning is over, time to work a little.

Ciao,

Farmer John