From the Farmers ….
As I sit here writing, there are a lot of black clouds outside and a few rain drops falling – and we are hoping for more. It has been a very busy week at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm. All of the final plantings of peppers, eggplants and basil went in on Monday. I used the new plastic mulch layer and put down two additional 250 foot rows of mulch and we planted another row of pickling cucumbers and another couple of varieties of eggplant. Except for the succession plantings, everything is in! Hurray! We have also been weeding – and weeding - with the bit of rain in addition to our irrigation the weeds are growing like – weeds. Just today we finished weeding – all by hand – the earliest carrots, chard and beets. It is such tedious, backbreaking work – and in this heat – even more difficult to maintain a positive attitude about. But it is done –at least for now – and the little plants will grow so much better with the weed competition taken away. All of the livestock has been enjoying tremendously the buckets of weeds added to their daily diets. This week, with the intensely hot, humid weather, we’ve been getting an earlier start in the fields 6 – 6:30and then taking an afternoon siesta at 3:00 with some of us getting back to work in the cooler evening time. Our interns have been learning some of the local swimming holes and places to eat on this unexpected day time off.
As I sit here writing, there are a lot of black clouds outside and a few rain drops falling – and we are hoping for more. It has been a very busy week at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm. All of the final plantings of peppers, eggplants and basil went in on Monday. I used the new plastic mulch layer and put down two additional 250 foot rows of mulch and we planted another row of pickling cucumbers and another couple of varieties of eggplant. Except for the succession plantings, everything is in! Hurray! We have also been weeding – and weeding - with the bit of rain in addition to our irrigation the weeds are growing like – weeds. Just today we finished weeding – all by hand – the earliest carrots, chard and beets. It is such tedious, backbreaking work – and in this heat – even more difficult to maintain a positive attitude about. But it is done –at least for now – and the little plants will grow so much better with the weed competition taken away. All of the livestock has been enjoying tremendously the buckets of weeds added to their daily diets. This week, with the intensely hot, humid weather, we’ve been getting an earlier start in the fields 6 – 6:30and then taking an afternoon siesta at 3:00 with some of us getting back to work in the cooler evening time. Our interns have been learning some of the local swimming holes and places to eat on this unexpected day time off.
The heat has been really hard on the animals too – two of the broilers died in the heat and nearly everyone is suffering from heat stress in midday. On Tuesday afternoon - I noticed that someone had put a large red wet bath towel on Didja – the oldest Toggenburg milking goat – to help her cool down. Minerva, our rabbit doe with a litter of seven babies was so hot that she lay panting with a soaking wet nose. Giving her a frozen bottle of water in her cage can help her to cool down. While this heat and humidity makes the crops grow –you can almost see the corn get taller – it is really hard on the farmers and the livestock. It’s a little hot too for the early greens and lettuce – they like a bit more moderate temperature – but the other veggies are coming on quickly with the leap from very cool into full summer weather.
The farm is looking really good – the fields are beautiful. As you drive in - along the north side of the driveway, the swaths of green – the pale bok choy, the brilliant Chinese cabbage, and the deep blue green of the broccoli are a beautiful sight. On the other side, rows and rows of just emerging squash and pumpkins and the neatly mulched rows of green beans and onions are just as beautiful in a completely different way. The tomatoes are bright green and just beginning to produce flowers. The potatoes are showing big bud clusters and as I keep telling the interns –that means it’s about three weeks to new potatoes. And along with the new potatoes come the peas –both sugar snaps and shell peas. So much promise in the beauty of the fields.
Until next week……
WHAT'S IN YOUR SHARE
Mixed Asian greens, Kyona Mizuna, red and green tatsoi, arugula, broccoli raab.
Scarlet Globe Radishes (red round) French Breakfast Radishes (elongated red and white)
Bok Choy - Mei Quin Choi
