This Week at the Farm
Below you will find updates on each season's progress directly from our farmer, John Krueger!
2009 Farm Updates
December 1, 2009
Hello Everyone,
I hope you all had a pleasant Thanksgiving and were able to incorporate much of last weeks share in your feast. At this point the fridge is probably full of leftovers, but you will need to make some space for this final share. Thanks to continued mild temps we still have an abundance of greens and we have harvested hundreds of lbs. of root vegetables as well.
For the most part the root crops will come without tops and should store well in the refrigerator for several months. As for the greens you may want to consider freezing some for future use. Most of the greens will freeze well after a light blanching- a minute in boiling water and then plunged into cold water to stop the cooking process. The squash, potatoes, and onions should be kept in a cool dry place where they will not freeze.
Thank you for participating in the extension; I hope you enjoyed it and found it to be a good value. Enjoy the holidays and have a healthy winter.
The share for this week will be: Assorted winter squash, fingerling potatoes, all blue potatoes, red and white skin potatoes, parsnips, baby carrots, turnips, radishes, daikon, beets, assorted lettuces, choice of escarole or endive, choice of mustard greens, pea greens, kale, cabbage and spinach.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
November 24, 2009
Hello Folks,
We have been blessed with mild temperatures during these final weeks of the season and so will enjoy lots of nice greens right through next week’s final share.
I wanted to give everyone a cooking pumpkin for their holiday baking needs. Unfortunately our harvest of pumpkins was rather meager this season. I was able to find some local organic cheese pumpkins to buy, but they turned out to be much larger than anticipated and there were fewer in the bins. We will need to cut these in half for distribution, which I regret because once cut they will not keep as well. They should keep for 4 or 5 days un-refrigerated in a cool place or for several weeks in the refrigerator- if you have the space. The best option is probably to cook them (steamed or baked) as soon as possible and freeze what you cannot use this week. They are great for pies, cakes, soups etc.
The share for this week will be Brussels sprouts, Boston lettuce, baby bok choy, cheese pumpkin, cippolini onions, leeks, white potatoes, spinach, choice of arugula or broccoli raab, parsnips, turnips, radishes, and broccoli or cauliflower.
Enjoy and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Farmer John
November 10, 2009
Hello Everyone,
We have reached the end of another CSA season. While all years hold their own particular challenges for a farmer this one has been especially difficult. Most of the other farmers that I have had a chance to talk with agree that 2009 was the worst growing season they can remember. The loss of the tomatoes was particularly heartbreaking as so much work goes into their production.
Still, one of the requisites for being a farmer is being an eternal optimist; believing that next year the weather will be better, maybe even that perfect year with just enough rain and sun and no hurricanes or hailstorms! It could happen…someday! While many of this season’s calamities were beyond my control there are things that I know must be done differently. Making sure that the melons are inside fencing to protect them from the deer, and working on a better trellis system and an organic spray program to control diseases in the tomatoes, are two examples.
One of the principal reasons I choose to continue in this challenging profession is that I believe it is the best way I can contribute in the struggle to mitigate climate change and create a sustainable future. It is ironic that the increasingly erratic and unpredictable weather make it more difficult to succeed in this crucial endeavor. Still, it’s clear they we won’t be able to reverse the process of global warming any time soon, and so we will need adapt to and persevere through each new twist that nature sends our way.
It is also clear that I would not be able to persist and persevere in this battle without the CSA program and the support of the members. I’d like to thank the many dedicated coordinators and volunteers that make the program possible. The encouragement, support and patience that I have received allow me to do what I love- to farm. And of course thanks to all of you, whose financial support and trust in me is equally indispensable. I wish you a happy and healthy winter season and look forward to serving you next year.
The share for this week will be: Broccoli, Romaine lettuce, parsnips, celery root, yellow onions, carnival or acorn squash, white potatoes, choice of 2 greens from the following list- arugula, broccoli raab, mustard green, tatsoi, escarole, endive, or green leaf lettuce, baby bok choy, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy! Farmer John
November 3, 2009
Hello Everyone,
We are forecast to have mostly clear skies this week, though somewhat brisk temperatures. I am hoping that abundant sunshine, which has been lacking for most of the season, will speed the growth of many crops which have been developing rather slowly.
I am also hopeful that with a few rain-free days the ground will dry enough for us to finish digging the potato crop. There remains nearly half an acre of spuds to be harvested and constantly wet soil has made there recovery rather difficult. Drier conditions will also enable me to prepare beds for the garlic, which needs to go in ASAP.
The broccoli crop if finally heading up more extensively and there will be broccoli for those groups that have not received it during the previous 2 weeks. There will be cauliflower for those not getting broccoli.
The share for this week will be: Choice of escarole or green leaf lettuce, buttercup squash, red skinned potatoes, garlic, red turnips, multi-colored carrots, choice of spinach or Swiss chard, broccoli or cauliflower, choice of a mustard green (arugula, tatsoi, or green wave) and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
October 27, 2009
Hi Folks,
We will be sending out the last few peppers as an extra this week, and this marks the end of the summer crops. The cool weather crops are thriving and look beautiful, although not always growing and maturing as fast as I would like. A case in point is the broccoli, which is big and beautiful, but still heading up slowly and sporadically. We have planted nearly 7,000 broccoli plants; more than half of which were planted in early August and so should be maturing. We had enough last week to send broccoli to a few groups and will have enough for several more groups this week. Anyone who has not received broccoli after this week will definitely get it next week and I expect to have enough for everyone in the final regular season share.
Spinach is another crop which endures cold weather but yet grows very slowly. I expect that the spinach will be large enough to bunch for next week’s share. Also on the horizon is escarole and broccoli raab. We have finished harvesting the sweet potatoes, and since I don’t have great storage conditions for them, we will be shipping them out immediately.
In the field, besides harvesting we are busy with clean up- removing posts, trellising, plastic mulch and drip tape and preparing ground for cover crops. We are also preparing beds for planting next season’s garlic and shallot crop. And I am, as always working on fixing broken equipment. This week’s project is the disc harrow which I need for planting the cover crops.
The share for this week will be: sweet potatoes, yellow onions, parsnips, acorn squash, radishes, choice of a mustard green- arugula or tatsoi, red leaf lettuce, choice of endive or dandelion greens, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy,
Farmer John
October 20, 2009
Hi Folks,
We have gone very quickly from our first frost to our first snowfall, with about a half an inch of heavy wet snow blanketed the farm this past Thursday. While there was no concern about damage to the remaining crops from the snow by virtue of the temperature, I was a bit worried about damage to some plants, especially the lettuces from the weight of the snow and its potential to break off leaves and branches. Fortunately this did not occur and we were spared a second round of snow that was predicted for Sunday.
With warmer temperatures expected this week I expect that many of the crops that have been growing very slowly will have a chance to size up this week. The broccoli is still heading up rather sporadically, so although I had promised broccoli in the shares this week, it seems we will have to wait one more week.
We have harvested what was left of the peppers in the field before they could be damaged by the frosts. We will be distributing them over the next 2 weeks provided they are holding up. We also have hot peppers which we will be sending as an extra.
The share for this week will be: Boston lettuce, peppers, white potatoes, red onions, choice of arugula or tatsoi, butternut squash, baby white salad turnips, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
October 13, 2009
Hello Everyone,
We had our first frost of the season this past Saturday night. I must confess that it caught me by surprise. I had last checked the weather websites on Friday and they were calling for a low of 37 degrees, giving a safe margin of error. I was expecting a frost this Tuesday and was planning to cover a few crops and do some final harvesting on others.
It was a bit of a shock to see the fields blanketed in white when I awoke at dawn on Sunday to head off to market. It was a very light frost but it burned the beans and the peppers slightly and finished off the winter squash vines that were still growing. It was repeated again on Sunday night and I expect we will have frost again on Tuesday, and apparently there is a possibility of snow flurries this Thursday evening.
I had been hoping for a mild fall with no frost until late October, but we just don’t seem to be catching any breaks this season. It really isn’t a major catastrophe except for the fact that I’ve been promising beans for the past 3 weeks and now there won’t be much of a crop. We are attempting to harvest the few beans on each plant that have achieved reasonable size, but it is a painfully slow process. Hopefully we can pick enough for a small share for everyone and I can guarantee they will be the thinnest beans you have ever seen.
The sweet potatoes on the other hand are mostly quite large, with one monster weighing in at 5.25 lbs. As previously mentioned broccoli is beginning to head up, but unfortunately not in sufficient quantities for distribution this week.
The share for this week will be: Sweet potatoes, Choice of green leaf lettuce or endive, yellow onions, mustard greens, carnival squash (similar to acorn), red potatoes, choice of string beans or edamame, peppers, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
October 6, 2009
Hello Everyone,
It was an unusually cool September, although the weather is so strange anymore it’s hard to say what is normal. I know I have been promising string beans for the past couple of weeks, but they have been growing slower than I’ve ever experienced in the past. The week ahead is predicted to be relatively warm with abundant sunshine so we should be able to begin harvesting beans next week. We do have edamame soybeans for this week.
I have a large planting of broccoli that I noticed was beginning to head last week and I had hoped it would be ready for this week. But after a walk though last evening it appears we will have to wait another week on this crop as well. All of the brassicas are growing beautifully and I expect to have lots of broccoli, as well as cauliflower and cabbage in the final weeks of the regular season. The sweet potato crop looks good and we should begin to dig these tasty treats for delivery in the next 2 weeks.
The share for this week will be: Leeks, white potatoes, peppers, spaghetti squash, arugula, kale, multi-colored carrots, choice of lettuce, edamame soybeans, choice of shallots or cippolini onions, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
September 29, 2009
Hi Folks,
We’ve been taking advantage of the dry conditions during this past week to dig as many of the potatoes as possible. The potato digging machine that I own does not work well when the ground is wet and up until now we have been digging most of the potatoes by hand. This is not only a slow and laborious process but leaves some potatoes behind and many that are damaged by being speared by the pitchfork.
On Sunday I attended the Garlic Festival in Saugerties NY and purchased nearly 500 lbs. of seed garlic and 80 lbs of shallots to plant this fall for next years crop. Along with perhaps 100 lbs of our own crop that I have saved for planting this should be nearly twice the amount planted last year, and should provide ample quantities for next season’s shares.
We have ample quantities of lettuce planted to finish out the season and it is growing nicely. At present however it is all too small to cut. We should begin to have lettuce for the shares in another week or two. The string bean crop is coming along a bit slower than I had anticipated and won’t be ready until next week. The edamame soybeans are also filling out slowly and will need another week to size up. The Swiss chard is beginning to grow well again but is also still to small to cut.
I have decided to buy some chard this week from another local organic farm. I will be sending various extras in the deliveries this week to try to compensate for a slightly light share this week. I hope that everyone can find something that they enjoy amongst the choices.
The share for this week will be: Red skinned potatoes, Swiss chard, beets, red onions, peppers, ground cherries, delicata squash, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
September 22, 2009
Hi Folks,
We continue to enjoy dry, but somewhat cool conditions here at the farm. This past Saturday night we came perilously close to having our first frost of the fall. But for now we have been spared and the temperatures are predicted to be more moderate for the next 10 days.
The cool temps do cause plant growth to slow considerably especially for the warm season crops. The next planting of beans which I expected to be ready will have to wait until next week. The eggplant too has slowed down its production, although it is still flowering and has a considerable amount of small fruit. The cool weather crops, of course are love these conditions and are growing beautifully.
We finished transplanting the last few broccoli and collard plants this past Saturday night. This week I will be seeding the last beds of mustard greens, radishes and turnips for the season.
The only major planting left for this year will be the garlic and shallots for next years crop, which will go in at the end of October. Next weekend I will be going up to Saugerties NY for the annual Garlic Festival. I will be shopping for about 500 lbs of seed stock to ensure that their will be an ample supply for next years deliveries.
The share for this week will be: Red leaf lettuce, yellow onions, garlic, kale, white potatoes, carrots, peppers, ground cherries, sweet corn (conventional) and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
September 15, 2009
Hello Everyone,
We received a good steady rain last Friday and Saturday that was, for a change, needed and appreciated. The fall brassicas crops are growing nicely and the many rows of seed I sowed during the dry spell have germinated well. In several weeks we will begin to have radishes and the white salad turnips as well as arugula and other greens. The ground cherries continue to fall abundantly and they will be in the share again this week.
The eggplant production has begun to slow down and while the plants continue to flower they have dropped much of their leaf. This is a consequence of the cooler weather we have had as well as fungal diseases that have began to take their toll. We will take a week off from delivering eggplant and meanwhile I will spray them with Neem oil, a natural fungicide, to try to sustain their production for a few more weeks.
As previously mentioned the Rattlesnake bean production has dwindled but the final planting of bush beans have begun to flower and should be ready to harvest by next week. We also have edamame soybeans on the way; probably in 2 weeks. We finally have an abundance of colored peppers, so most of the peppers in this weeks share should be red, orange, or my favorite, chocolate.
We are in the process of putting up a temporary fence around the winter squash planting, as the deer have discovered them and are beginning to destroy what is already a somewhat meager crop. Wet conditions caused much of the young fruit to rot immediately after the blossom dropped. There probably won’t be any pumpkins this year and the other winter squash varieties will likely be a bit small.
The share for this week will be: Romaine lettuce, red-skinned potatoes, red onions, beans, celery, summer squash, beets, ground cherries, peppers, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
September 8, 2009
Hi Folks,
The dry weather this past week has finally allowed me to plant many of the fall root and greens crops that I have been trying to sow for weeks. Now of course a little rain would be appreciated to get them sprouted and growing. We have also been busy transplanting lettuces and brassicas for late season harvest.
As previously mentioned a planting of summer squash is beginning to produce, unfortunately they are already showing signs of disease. At present I am unable to predict whether there will be sufficient quantities to deliver in the shares this week. I expect to be able to ship zucchini to some groups this week and to others next week. The tomato harvest seems to be just about over for this season, whatever fruit we are able to harvest breaks down very quickly.
The rattlesnake beans have also slowed way down in their production, due primarily to a bad infestation of Mexican bean beetles. This is a consequence of not being able to spray to control this pest on the early planting of bush beans. Left uncontrolled the populations grow rapidly and spread to successive plantings. Some of you may have encountered a few of the yellow larva in your beans and I apologize for that. We try to remove them as we harvest, but inevitably some escape detection. I have one last planting of beans that should begin in another 2 or 3 weeks and I will be spraying them this week to try to control this plague.
I will be sending various items as extras this week, such as turnips, kohlrabi, tomatillos, and hot peppers. These are products that we don’t have in large quantities and which are not universally popular. This serves the dual purpose of supplementing a slightly light delivery this week and allowing me to make space in my cooler. I hope everyone can find something they can use among this assortment. I will also be sending sweet corn this week. It will be freshly picked, locally grown corn but not organic.
The share for this week will be: Red lettuce. Carrots, peppers, eggplant, fingerling potatoes, yellow onions, ground cherries, conventional sweet corn, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
September 1, 2009
Hi Folks,
The weather has continued to present challenges during this past week. The frequent rain does not give the ground ample time to dry out enough for me to prepare ground or plant seeds. In addition, high winds which accompanied a storm on August 21 tore the plastic off the high tunnel greenhouse at the Blairstown farm. I was never able to plant anything in this greenhouse due to the wet conditions, but we were using it to dry much of the onion crop.
I didn’t become aware of the situation until last Wednesday ,and so on Thursday we were diverted from other pressing tasks in order to gather them and bring them to Andover to be stored in the barn, ahead of the weekend rainstorm. The same high winds knocked over much of the trellising that supports the Rattlesnake pole beans.
In between harvesting and dealing with these various calamities we have been busy transplanting lettuces and the fall brassicas crops. The week ahead is predicted to be rain free, so I hope to be able to seed a multitude of fall crops such as turnips, radishes, arugula, spinach, and various other greens.
Because I have been delayed in planting these crops for so many weeks, greens will be rather scarce for a while. About the only greens I have in great abundance are dandelions and I doubt there are many of you who are huge fans of this bitter green. The chard has succumbed to fungal diseases because of the damp conditions, but we are attempting to rejuvenate it by cutting it off at base so it can re-grow. We will save all the clean leaf we find to distribute in the shares bagged, because it is mostly too small to bunch.
With cooler condition beginning the kale should begin to grow well again and we can harvest it for distribution in another couple of weeks. A second planting of zucchini and other summer squash is coming on and I hope to have sufficient quantities to deliver by next week.
The share for this week will be Romaine lettuce, white potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, Rattlesnake beans, beets, leeks, choice of Swiss chard or dandelion greens, garlic, ground cherries, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
August 25, 2009
Hello Everyone,
We have arrived at the mid point of the season. While it has been one of the most challenging years ever, I am fairly satisfied with what we have been able to provide thus far. I only hope that you, the shareholders feel the same. I strive to make each year better than the last as I learn from my mistakes and improve my soils and growing systems. In a difficult year this may mean that my production is only equal to the previous year or at least not much worse.
In almost every year there are crops that flourish and others that fail. Last year there were no sweet potatoes because I was unable to buy plants. This year we have planted about 2500 plants and they are doing well. Last year we had a bumper melon crop, in spite of problems with the crows drilling holes in many of them. This year I am sad to report that the deer have destroyed my entire main planting of melons. I have planting melons in the open, with no fencing for 12 years and have never had a problem until this season. After many years farming I thought I knew what the deer would bother and what was safe, unfortunately they seem to have continually evolving eating habits.
The problem began right after transplanting as they started munching on the young plants, pulling some right out of the ground in the process. We covered them with an ag-fabric normally used for protection from insects and frost, and they grew beautifully for several weeks this way. However once the plants begin to flower and run they must be uncovered so that bees can pollinate the flowers and the vines can spread. Once they were uncovered the deer resumed eating not only the vines but all of the young fruit as soon as it formed.
We planted a second smaller batch of melons later in the season inside the deer fence and those are growing beautifully, but were planted quite late and it is uncertain whether they will have time to mature fruit. For the sake of the melons as well as the winter squash and other main season crops let’s hope it’s a warm and not too wet fall.
We are beginning to harvest quite a few ground cherries, so depending on availability these may be in your share this week or next. These members of the tomato family are closely related to the tomatillo and share the paper husk that surrounds the fruit. Simply squeeze them out of their husk and eat them out of hand, in salads or make a sauce with them. They make great snacks for kids as they are quite sweet.
Two weeks ago the share included All blue potatoes, an unusual spud that many people really like. The following week we noticed that nearly half of those we had stored had rotted. This particular crop was planted at another field which has very heavy clay soil and is in a valley, and so the ground was saturated during much of the season. I apologize if your potatoes went bad, but it takes a few days for this condition to manifest itself and there is no way to detect which are good and which are not. I will now have to decide whether to harvest the rest of this crop and hold them to sort out the infected ones, or abandon them entirely.
The share for this week will be Red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, red skinned potatoes, Rattlesnake pole beans, carrots, red onions, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
August 18, 2009
Hello Folks,
It finally feels like summer in NJ, with the heat and humidity we’ve come to know and endure. We are enjoying what seems like an unprecedented 5 day period without rain, but it is predicted to end by Wednesday as we head into another week of showers and thunderstorms.
Normally at this time of year I am impeded from seeding crops for the fall by dry conditions. This season however it has been a challenge to find windows of opportunity for planting when the soil is not too wet. I have been behind schedule on my planting since early June, and as I rush to plant each crop before it’s too late, another crop has to wait until after it’s optimal planting time. Let’s hope it’s a warm fall with no frost until late October!
In any given year some crops do poorly due to weather conditions or other variables. I’m sure most of you have heard about the problems with tomatoes this season due to late blight. While my farm has not yet been affected by this disease, we nevertheless have a plethora of other diseases affecting the tomato crop. Even the tomatoes in the high tunnel greenhouses have been affected. We are harvesting quite a few tomatoes at present, owing to the sheer number of plants we put in. But most of this fruit is coming from plants that are almost dead and will not produce a sustained harvest. We are doing what we can to save those varieties which may have a chance of continued production, but the bottom line is it won’t be a very good year for tomatoes.
Currently we are picking quite a few heirloom tomatoes, especially a variety called Cherokee purple. These have a very dark colored fruit with green shoulders which I and many others consider to be the most delicious of the heirlooms. Keep in mind that they will not lose their green shoulders and you must judge their ripeness by softness. Heirlooms are notoriously perishable so enjoy them soon after you receive them.
The share for this week will be: White potatoes, green leaf lettuce, multi-colored carrots, celery, white onions, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, choice of dandelion greens or Swiss chard, string beans, choice of red or Savoy cabbage, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
August 11, 2009
Hi Everyone,
This past week we finished harvesting the onion crop, which is a great relief. With these wet and humid conditions everyday that they remained in the field they were in danger of rotting. Now we can turn our attention to other pressing matters such as getting the weeds under control in the winter squash and elsewhere, and beginning to transplant the fall broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.
The beets have finally sized up so we will be shipping them this week. There will be some regular purple types and some Chioggia beets, an Italian heirloom, also known as Candy cane which is white with red rings inside. The eggplant and tomatoes have begun to produce so they will be in the share for this week as well.
The tomatoes are rather small and there aren’t that many ripe just yet, but it’s a start. The truth is that my tomato crop looks terrible and I don’t expect a very good season for tomatoes this year. You have probably heard about the problem of late blight on tomatoes in NJ. This disease, also known as phytoptera is what caused the Irish potato famine, and is quite devastating. I heard that one local farm lost their entire crop of tomatoes and potatoes. Fortunately we have not seen any sign of it yet here at the farm. But there is a plethora of other diseases affecting the tomatoes; even the tomatoes in the greenhouse have been affected.
We still have an abundance of the sweet onion, so we will be sending these again this week, as they aren’t great keepers. While I normally only send one member of the Allium family each week, I know that many of you are waiting for more garlic, so we will be sending it as well.
The share for this week will be: Red Boston lettuce, garlic, sweet onions, All Blue potatoes, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, string beans, and choice of an herb.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
August 4, 2009
Hello Folks,
I am once again late in writing the update, and for that I apologize to those who are waiting to know what they will receive this week. All I can say is that I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment trying to keep up with so many battles on so many fronts.
We have just passed another wet spell with almost 4” of rain falling during the past week. This has created various problems such as not being able to harvest potatoes with my mechanical digger, and setting me back on my planting of fall crops. And yet I count myself lucky that it has been only rain. In the nearby Borough of Andover roofs were ripped off building by a mini tornado and an orchard close by suffered extensive damage from hail. I also heard on the radio of a farm that was almost completely destroyed by a tornado.
We are once again in the position of having to harvest thousands of heads of lettuce or lose them. Both of my coolers are already completely full, so I have no more space to store anything. For this reason we will be shipping 2 heads of lettuce in the share this week. I hope you’re in the mood for lots of salads!
We are sending red onions this week and this particular crop was damaged by the hailstorm in June. Because of the torn leaves, water was able to enter and has caused some to have a single rotten layer inside. It is all but impossible to tell which ones have this condition and generally the rest of the onion is fine. I apologize and ask your indulgence in this regard if you receive some of these.
We harvested most of the onions from the other farm this past week and they are hanging to dry. Since there was no hail at this location they look good, so I expect the onions later in the season will not have this problem.
The share for this week will be: Romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, carrots, green peppers, white potatoes, red onions, string beans, and choice of parsley or basil.
Enjoy,
Farmer John
2009 Farm Updates
July 28, 2009
Hello Everyone,
We received some much needed rain this past weekend and fortunately the hailstorms that were about missed us this time. The ground is still quite dry, which is good for digging potatoes but not for much else.
We have been busy putting up trellis for tomatoes and for many people’s favorite, the Rattlesnake pole bean. The beans have been coming in heavily, so we have an ample supply for the shares this week. Unfortunately one variety that I planned which was supposed to be a green bean has produced yellow wax beans, so we have more wax beans than green beans at the moment.
This week you will be receiving Ailsa Craig sweet onions, a wonderful heirloom variety. These we will send with the green tops still attached, which can be used like a scallion. We will also be shipping radicchio, most of which is the trevisio type which has a form like a small romaine lettuce. We are continuing with the rotation of cukes and summer squash (zukes). If you got one last week you should get the other this week.
The share for this week will be: Red leaf lettuce, sweet onions, red skinned potatoes, string beans, cabbage, choice of Swiss chard or dandelion greens, radicchio, red skinned or golden turnips, cucumbers or summer squash and choice of an herb- summer savory, sweet marjoram, or parsley.
Enjoy!
Farmer John
July 21, 2009
Hi Everyone,
The continued dry spell enabled us to get somewhat caught up on the work we fell behind with during the monsoon. Unfortunately we are now falling behind on the planting and some of the other tasks normal to Mid-July, such as tying up the tomatoes and harvesting the onions. We have finished harvesting the garlic and it is hung up to cure. The harvest looks good with good size bulbs and not much problem with rot. It will be in the share again in 2 or 3 weeks.
We have begun harvesting the onions and as I feared the wet conditions have caused problems with rot. We have tried to save as many as we could by spreading them out in the greenhouse to dry, but many were too far gone. We will begin shipping some white onions this week and a sweet variety called Ailsa Craig next week. For the time being I recommend using your onions quickly as the sweet onions don’t keep well.
A word about the updates- I try my best to make predictions about what will be ready during the coming week on Sunday, because some groups receive their delivery on Tuesday. Please bear in mind that this is a prediction and not a guarantee. Things change and sometimes there is not enough of an item for groups that receive later in the week. I keep careful track of who has gotten what and to keep things equitable. Generally if an item is on the list and you don’t get it that week you will get it the next. This is the case for a number of items this week such as cauliflower, and squash/cucumbers as well as peas and favas which are ending vs. beans which are just beginning.
During the past week we were forced to harvest thousands of heads of lettuce we were about to lose to bolting. These are now in cold storage to be saved for distribution over the next several weeks. Lettuce keeps very well this way for 2 or 3 weeks, but we just have too much and no more space in the coolers. And since many of the heads are a bit small, we will be sending 2 different varieties this week, probably a red romaine and a Boston (no guarantees!).
The share for this week will be: Yukon Gold potatoes, white onions, lettuces, carrots, cauliflower, choice of Swiss chard or kale, basil, bok choy, peas or beans, and squash or cucumbers. Enjoy! Farmer John
July 14, 2009
Hello Folks,
We’ve been busy this past week trying to catch up with the planting and with the weeding that we were unable to get done this past month due to the rain.
I have almost finished planting the pumpkins and the winter squash. On Monday I will finish up with planting the acorn squash and will also try to plant the edamame soybeans. We have also begun to harvest the garlic and hang it in the barn to cure. We should finish that project as well early this week.
We have also been busy in the greenhouse planting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and other thing for the fall crop. The tops on some of the onions have begun to die back so we will be starting the onion harvest next week.
The share for this week will be: Romaine lettuce, Chinese cabbage, carrots, fresh garlic, peas, basil and choice of mustard or dandelion greens.
Enjoy,
Farmer John
July 7, 2009
Hello Folks,
The weather looks good for the week ahead so perhaps this means we have reached the end of the monsoon season here in the Northeast. With abundant sunshine and some moderate heat the warm weather crops should begin to grow rapidly.
The summer squash has recovered from the hail damage and is beginning to produce prolifically. The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are beginning to flower, so we should have these in another 3 or 4 weeks.
The sweet potatoes, cucumbers and beans are growing nicely, although the main bean crop was planted about 2 weeks later than planned, so it could be awhile until beans are abundant. The broccoli crop is still coming in heavily so we should have broccoli to deliver for the next 2 shares.
The pea patch, which looked so beautiful and promising for the longest time has succumbed to the one two punch of hail and repeated rains. Most of the dwarf varieties, which are not trellised, were flattened and the developing pods ended up against the soil under a mat of wet vegetation making them quite ugly if not completely rotten. This has been an especially bad problem with the sugar snaps since they are eaten whole. I hope to have peas in the shares for the next 2 weeks, but I can’t make any promises as to the quantities or quality.
By the way, I promise not to open next week’s update with a weather report or mention the hail storm again!
You will have a choice this week of baby salad turnips or red skinned turnips, which are generally cooked. I suspect than many of you may be tired of the radish and turnip rotation by now, so I wanted to reassure you that this will be the last until the fall, and that carrots and beets are coming!
If you still have your radishes, take the tops off and they will keep for weeks until you find a use for them (this is true for the turnips as well). Radishes can be cooked in stir fries or soups and lose much of their spiciness in the process. One idea for getting your family to eat turnips is to make fritters out of them substituting them for potatoes in a potato pancake recipe.
The share for this week will be: Peas, scallions, summer squash, Oak leaf lettuce, choice of tatsoi or kale, turnips, choice of dill or cilantro, and kohlrabi (broccoli for those groups who got kohlrabi last week).
Enjoy!
Farmer John
June 30, 2009
Hi Folks,
Well it seems that we are in for another week of scattered thunderstorms. Hopefully it won’t be quite as bad as this past month has been. We were caught out in the field several times this past week as strong storms rolled through unexpectedly. They always seem to come at the most inopportune times, such as in the middle of transplanting or with me on the tractor in one field and my workers scattered around in others and needing to be picked up.
We were finally able to transplant the melons this past week and a few thousand lettuce plants. We were interrupted by one of the storms while planting the lettuce and a dozen or so flats had to be left in the barn out of sun (sun? what sun?) for several days because they had already been pulled from their cells. We were finally able to finish the job on Saturday evening; working around a couple of passing showers and plodding through the mud.
In spite of the difficult weather many crops are doing great and have recovered fairly well from the hail damage. The carrot crop looks good and we should have them in the share in another 2 or 3 weeks. The beets are coming along and should start sizing up soon as well. The Chinese (napa) cabbage is heading up and should be ready in 2 weeks. In the meantime there’s lots of broccoli coming on and it should be in the shares for the next several weeks.
The share for this week will be: Radishes, mustard greens, broccoli, peas, red leaf lettuce, choice of escarole or endive, bok choy, and choice of cilantro or dill.
Enjoy! Farmer John
June 23, 2009
Hello Everyone,
The cool wet weather continues to make life difficult here on the farm. Unfortunately I
have an even worse weather phenomenon to report. Last Monday evening the Andover farm was hit by a quite severe hailstorm. Virtually all of the crops in these fields were damaged.
The plants with softer leaves, such as lettuce, spinach, and other greens suffered the worst damage. About 20% of the tomato plants were damaged beyond recovery. The peppers which were flowering and beginning to set fruit, had all the flowers and fruit ripped off. The pea plants were flattened and the peas are pockmarked with white spots. The bok choy, which looked beautiful and which I expected to deliver in the share this week, has had most of the outside leaf destroyed. The summer squash which was just beginning to fruit has lost all of the large outer leaves and the young fruit are riddled with holes.
What this means for the CSA members is that greens will be rather scarce for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Lettuces, cauliflower and broccoli will be smaller than usual. It also means that the warm weather crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant will be delayed by at least 2 weeks from their normal start date of late July.
It was truly heartbreaking to see the damage to so many crops that were growing so beautifully and that we have worked so hard to plant and maintain. I confess that I am quite discouraged and disheartened, but I don’t give up easily. We will forge ahead, make the best of what is left, and replant those crops which we are able.
In last weeks update I mentioned spraying, which prompted an inquiry from one of the members. Since I imagine there are others who may be concerned about this issue, I thought I should address it. I have at times heard conventional farmers say that one of their crops is organic. When asked to explain they say that since there was no need to spray that crop it became organic. In the same way that simply not spraying a crop does not make it organic, spraying a crop does not preclude it from being organic.
Almost all organic farmers use sprays to control insects and disease, as well as for foliar feeding. As a certified organic farm we are allowed to use various products which are approved for organic production by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) and reviewed and evaluated by OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute).
These products may be elemental, such as copper or sulfur, which are fungicidal or biological such as bacillus thuringensis (Bt) which affect only Lepidoptera family insects (caterpillars). They may also be natural insecticides derived from plants such as pyrethrum, which is derived from a chrysanthemum, or neem oil from the seeds of the Neem tree. All of these products breakdown quickly, are not persistent in the environment, and have low toxicity to humans and other animals. One of my favorite products as a fungicide is called Sporan which contains essential oils of clove, rosemary and wintergreen. It works well and it smells great too!
While there are cultural methods employed to minimize pest problems such as crop rotation, there are still times when pests can do sufficient damage to seriously reduce yields or render a crop unmarketable. Timely spraying, done when pests first arrive or emerge (many overwinter in the soil) can do much to control the problem before populations explode out of control. While I have spoken to a few organic farmers who say that they don’t spray, I believe that what they are guaranteeing their customers is produce laced with holes and worms in their broccoli or cabbage. I have also spoken to the members of one of these farms and been told about all the crops they don’t receive.
I strictly adhere to the rules governing what is allowed in organic production and do not spray any crop that is close to being harvested.
The share for this week will be: Escarole, Red leaf lettuce, broccoli, baby salad turnips (edible tops) and peas.
Enjoy!
Everyone, We’ve arrived at the week you’ve all been waiting for- the week of the
June 16, 2009
Hi Everyone, We’ve arrived at the week you’ve all been waiting for- the week of the
first delivery. As usual there won’t be a large number of items in this first share, but what we have I think you will enjoy. I was hoping to have broccoli for the first share, as the early crop was beginning to head up last week, but it seems that it will need another week.
I guess it isn’t necessary to tell you it’s been raining a lot. These wet conditions for the past 2 weeks have made it very difficult to keep up with the planting schedule. The greenhouse is full of plants ready to be transplanted, but I can’t prepare the beds, because the ground is too wet to work.
There are many seeds that need to go in now as well, and even though I have ground ready, the seeder won’t work properly if the soil is too wet. And there’s keeping up with the weeds in the already growing crops. When I am able to cultivate with the tractor in a timely manner a lot of hand cultivation can be avoided, but weeds disturbed by a cultivator easily re-root in wet soil.
Sometimes people think that all the rain is good for the crops, but what’s really needed is a balance between rain and sunshine. Prolonged dampness can create ideal conditions for fungal diseases and frequent rain makes it difficult to spray for insect pests.
I am always mindful of the maxim: Be careful what you wish for, in these circumstances. At anytime now the rain might stop and we could head into a long drought.
For now I’m just hoping for a few days of sun before the next round of showers and thunderstorms rolls in.
The share for this week will be: English (shell) peas, Red leaf lettuce, endive (frissee), garlic scapes, radishes, kale, choice of arugula or mustard greens, and a choice of oregano or mint.
Enjoy!
May 7, 2009
Hello Everyone and Happy Spring!
Welcome to the first installment of the 2009 farm updates. I’m a bit late getting this out, but April was a very hectic month. We’ve been busy in the greenhouse since early March planting seed for the many crops that are transplanted out into the field, from broccoli and cabbage to tomatoes and peppers.
The early spring was not quite as cold as it was last year and not quite as wet as it can sometimes be, but it was quite gray. With many days in a row without sunshine the plants seemed to grow extremely slowly. One of the challenges that come along with gray weather is watering; without sunshine the soil in the flats stays too wet and with cool nights can lead to damping off, a fungal disease of the roots. We experienced a bit of this with the lettuce plants but with a little care most of them have recovered and almost caught up with the others.
Of course the 4 day April heat wave we just experienced was another kind of challenge; keeping me running back an forth between the 2 greenhouses I am using, trying to keep everything from burning up!
In early April I began planting peas and fava beans in the field, all of which have come up nicely and are growing well. I calculate that I have planted about 15,000 row ft. or nearly 3 miles of these crops. The next step is to finish putting up some fencing around this field before the plants are tall enough to be attractive to the deer (the theme of a bad dream I had just last night!).
At the end of last week we transplanted thousands of cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower plants in a marathon session through drizzle and sometimes heavier rain. Having waited until after the heat broke I was anxious to get these plants in the ground ahead of more rain.
One of this weeks major tasks will be setting out the thousand of lettuce, radicchio, and escarole plants that have also been waiting in the wings for the heat to abate. We have so far planted about 1500 lbs. of potatoes (1500 to go) and 40,000 onion plants (20,000 to go). The garlic and shallots which were planted last fall have come up well and are growing beautifully.
Now is the time for direct seeding many of the root crops and greens. In the next week I will be planting carrots parsnips, radishes, spinach, chard, arugula and many other types of mustard greens. The wet weather predicted will of course make this difficult, but one has to watch for windows when the soil dries out enough just before the next round of rain begins.
It hasn’t been an easy spring here on the farm but then again it never is; on the whole I think we’re on track for a good season.
Thanks to all those who came out to help cover the greenhouse on April 18th, and to those who helped with transplanting this past weekend. Your help is greatly appreciated! Next chance is this Sunday as we try again to cover the big high tunnel greenhouse. Keep your fingers crossed for calm winds and no rain!
Farmer John
