Picking broccoli in the rain.
It rained hard, seemed like all night. Thunder and lightening, which is rare in these parts, shook us awake around midnight. Just what we need. And more is on the way.
Here’s what it looks like this morning.
Lowest part of the farm is maxed out.
Lettuce beds partially flooded.
Drains are working…
The compost is covered.
Good example of why to “bed up”. This treatment allows the planting area to dry quicker for earlier planting.
Silvery red cabbage leaves
Rain is in the forecast, a novel situation for us in “Droughtville” (California). We’ve had a couple practice storms roll through, dropping an inch, more or less, just to tease us. But this week, we’ve heard up to 7 inches could fall. The whole community is excited, hoping this will open the storm door and eventually lead us out of the dry conditions we’ve experienced for several years now. The reservoirs are low and steps are being taken to monitor ground water supplies. We have two good wells on the property we use to irrigate year-round. And so far, that’s been enough. Paul has also switched most crops to drip lines for most of their life cycle, rather than overhead, sprinkler-type watering. We trade off using less water for more plastic and more labor.
Cover crop has been planted wherever possible.
Lush cover crop.
The farm prepares for winter rains every year, whether they come or not. As the day length shortens and the nights cool, fields are cleared of finished tomatoes and eggplant, tilled until smooth and flat, composted and finally cover crop seed has been planted wherever we want to give the beds a carbon boost. Ditches are checked and regraded where necessary.
Hoops to cover beds await
Hoops are set up over beds in case the rain becomes too much for small plants. Plastic covers can be pulled over the top of the hoops, if need be. We’re ready and waiting to have time in the shop, to clean and sharpen tools, to change the oil for the many machines, and to get to the projects that await, like the recently purchased cultivating tractor that needs a new front axle and for the whole under-belly apparatus to be rebuilt and mounted.
Romanesco plays peek-a-boo
So we wait to see how much will fall.
Red beets
Rainbow chard is loving this cooler, wetter weather.
Lots of new pipe. The days of moving pipe from field to field are numbered!
Surprise artichokes are popping here and there.
Moving compost
Attending the compost
Two kinds of leeks, King Richard on the left and Lexton on the right.
Joanie came to visit on Thanksgiving.
Brussels sprouts are just beginning to form
Kohlrabi
New (used) Kubota cultivating tractor
Front axle needs work
Field restoration is in full swing. Organic farming, almost by definition, strives to improve the soils. Whether by adding organic matter through cover cropping, taking soil tests and boosting nutrients through application of whatever is needed or rock crushing!
Several of our fields are very rocky. Several years ago, Paul bought a rock crusher, which has been earning its keep this month. The rocky fields are slowly (driving as the crusher runs is very slow…15 minutes from one end of the 100 yard field to the other) becoming rock free.
Already crushed areas, ready for the next stage.
Rocky soils are being “crushed”.
Broccoli grows with such verve, it’s impossible to ignore.
Kristen picking kale
Will picking kale
Surprise artichokes are popping here and there.
Fall is coming on strong, as the summer crops peak. What to do? Just work a little harder, longer and stronger, knowing that rain will come, things will slow down. There will be time next to the wood stove, with a book and a cup of tea. But for now, it’s go, go, go. So glad we are up to it. And thanks to everyone that works for us or buys produce from our farm. We couldn’t do it without you.
Today we were presented with a beautiful fall day, lots of big fluffy clouds, lilting through a big sky, over hill and dale, casting moving shadows on the undulations below. With just a hint of moisture, as the clouds misted the fields, dampening the dust, sweetening the soil and doubling the scents. It’s teaming with life out there!
These kabocha winter squash are close to harvest.
Shallots dry under a big oak.
Rhazes, our new red little gem lettuce
Brasiccas ready to go out into the field.
Yellow wax beans
Rosa bianca eggplant
Lots of San Marzano roma tomatoes, perfect for sauce.
We’ve been gapping with our beet crops, but these are almost big enough to harvest.
Celery and fennel, first planting.
Fennel and celery root, next planting
Broccoli
Picchu berries, a new crazy delicious berry, we’re trialling.
Cherry tomatoes are dropping.
Leeks and onions
Carrots in the foreground. It didn’t rain enough to keep the irrigation from happening.
It happens every year. Juggling price changes, seed and box orders, soil samples to send, staff needs, signage plus new accounts, keeps everyone on their toes.
And then there is what’s happening in the fields. Multiple crops are ready to be harvested and sold. 5,000 heads of lettuce are seeded every two weeks, but now every 10 days, as demand increases. More is required of our bodies and our minds. It feels like a miracle that it all comes together each week… the orders are taken, the crops are picked, packed and delivered, the markets happen and we sell.
We are so grateful for our tremendous staff, in the field and at the markets. Our health and ability to make this all happen has much to do with eating our own great products!
Yellow raspberries are really strong right now.
Cherry tomatoes are so decorative.
Flowering potatoes
Irrigation needs patching due to crow damage. Grrr
The culprits …
Kale
I’ll take the sugar baby camouflage.
We’ve been selling sunflowers at our farm stand on Saturdays.
Everyone loves the sweet corn.
Winter squash, melons and cucumbers create such a beautiful blanket.
Lovely delicata!
Acorn is the first of the winter squash to be ready, maybe a month away.
The Rosa Bianca eggplant that won the beauty contest.
Red Butter Lettuce with exposed burned edges
For the second week in a row, we have lost our planting of Red Butter lettuce to a pervasive burn which effects the edges of the leaves. It looks beautiful, until you start to pull it apart. We will face a lot of disappointed customers at the markets, but luckily have other lettuces to offer. The burn seems to correspond to heat during certain parts of the growth cycle.
The old saying, “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket” comes to mind right now. The farm has lots of baskets and they are full of many summer crops. Take a look:
This week’s ruined Red Butter crop in the center. Last week’s failed crop on the left.
The full crew picks beans.
Asparagus in frond stage
Melons
Tomatoes are beginning to color.
Just harvested pea shoots
The first row of of a new crop of carrots was picked today.
Garlic chives are flowering.
Cloudy skys over the winter squash field. The plants are taking off, but not yet flowering.
The yellow raspberries are in full production.
Today’s sky was unusual for around here. The thin clouds hung around all day, allowing for a very easy-on-the-eyes day and a perfect day to take pictures. And since it’s been a month since my last post, this is long overdue. I apologize for my absence. My unorganized self is fully to blame.
Garlic chives in bud
Winter squash field
Picked over beans, in the foreground. The next crop is flowering in the background.
Shaggy asparagus
Couldn’t resist two watermelon pictures…
Sugar baby melon
Two charentais melons
Allysum, marigolds and tomatillos
The first tomatoes are sizing up!
Flowering cilantro is humming with bees.
Onion beds are such an extraordinary color.
Pea shoot flats, after harvest. We’ll harvest the soil too.
Shishito peppers are quite a bit shorter than their more famous cousin, the Padron. They’re full of flowers.
Red raspberries
Watering the carrots deeply
Lettuce and frisee with corn, tomatoes and sunflowers in the distance.
…and changes continue.
There is so much to see, as one walks around the farm right now. Spring crops are finishing up. The asparagus is growing up and beginning to “frond”. It will continue to send up wiry, ferny stems until late in the fall, when it yellows and dries out. January or February next year, the bed will be “cultivated” or cleaned-up and spears will begin emerging in February or March.
Bye-bye chives…
We’ve had a spectacular crop of shelling peas this year. (I’ve even been able to put some in the freezer. Feels like money in the bank, they are that good.) The peas are almost done, beginning to dry in their pods. Another thing that is finishing for us is Salad Mix. We don’t grow a mix in the summer. It saves the crew having to fit that labor intensive task into their Tuesday and Thursday, while there are so many other things to pick. The salad mix is a wonderful convenience for our customers and we love it ourselves, but a break gives us the chance to look forward to Salad Mix coming back in the fall, to practice patience for produce we love. Beginning tomorrow, head lettuces will have to do.
There are a number of crops right around the corner … Romenesco (a green cauliflower with a most unusual shape), raspberries, potatoes and cucumbers, basil, raspberries, green beans …
German butterball potatoes are flowering like crazy.
Romanesco grows on an enormous plant.
The white cauliflower seems like a prize, all wrapped up.
Cucumbers are crawling.
And what will take up so much time in the coming months, you may ask? What will be on the menu in our household and others’ in our community and beyond? Standard summer fare with a few curveballs thrown in to keep everyone on our toes, to keep those routines from becoming a rut. There are naturally tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, melons and beans, even some sweet corn this year, surprise, surprise!
Our farm stand opens on Saturday, June 14th. Lots of buzz and as much as we love sharing all the bounty, we’re relishing the last few weekends without it. The summer hustle is about to begin!
This bed of just planted shallots is growing on buried drip line, a refinement we hope will save precious water.
The first planting of peppers have been staked. These padrons grow so tall, and they are rather fragile. Staking keeps them from tipping over and breaking.
The first planting of tomatoes and have been staked for support.
First tomatoes
First and second planting of peppers
Napa cabbage
Potatoes
Harvested carrot bed
Farm tools
Sage
Changes happen fast around here. Our second market of the week opened this week, Tuesday, with much fanfare and commotion. We had a busy and successful night. Thanks to all for coming and supporting us and all the vendors. We look forward to another great season.
We are growing some new varieties this year including a new English pea called Penelope (ahhh). It sports a densely packed pod of small, sweet peas, most picturesque. Also, to fan the kale-craze flames, a broader leafed kale called Rainbow Lacinato kale.
Rainbow lacinato kale
Penelope
The farm stand will open soon. Still haven’t set a date, but the decor has been planted.
Farm stand is planted…
The words “busy” and “spring” are synonymous on a farm.
Fields are drying quickly and the cover crop wants to be “harvested” and turned into the soil, creating an instant carbon boost helping with fertility and soil structure. Once mowed the debris from the crop digests for several weeks or until it’s structure is all but gone allowing the finished bed to be even and smooth.
Furrows help dry the soil.
The cover crop consists of bell beans, Austrian peas, barley and oats.
Then the field will be rototilled. Sometimes when a field is tilled, the soil moisture is still too high to plant. To speed drying, furrows are made with shovels on the tractor.
Once a field is flat and weed-free, it’s ready to be planted. And there are many transplants lined up waiting for space.
Transplants and irrigation supplies
The whole crew works the plantings. The irrigation has to be set up. Most everything is on drip lines which have to be pulled and hooked up to the water supply. Some crops require covers. For example, the first tomatoes and peppers (Padron) are in and covered.
Additionally, many things are being harvested at this time of year, adding to the day’s diversity and the community’s health. We are so happy to be able to grow this excellent food.
The artichokes are finishing.
These carrots on drip lines are just beginning to be harvested.
Asparagus harvest today
Picking peas and sage in flower
Raspberries with fava beans in the background
The first peppers in the field have their own greenhouses to give them a little boost.
Spring purplette onions
Even the sweet peas at home are growing like crazy.
Paul's Produce 