Storms and tomatoes, that's what it seems this week was all about. Thankfully, we were spared any hail damage from the 2 big storms that rolled through earlier this week, and we were able to put the sprinkler away as we received a total of just over 3" of rain. I heard reports of some devastating baseball sized hail E of Superior, and I was hardly able to wrap my head around what kind of damage that could do to tender vegetable crops. As farmers, we are already at the mercy of the weather in so many ways, but hail that size... My heart goes out to the folks who were affected by hail like that.
Three inches of rain, though - we'll sure take that. Before this week, it's been nearly 3 weeks since we've had any real rainfall, the kind of rain that does more than just keeping the dust down. The field crops grew leaps and bounds this week, and that rain was perfect for setting in the clover seed we broadcast out across our sweet corn last week.
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With the rainy days and wet field conditions, we turned our focus this week on catching up to tomato pruning and trellising in the hoophouses. We usually keep up on this task on rainy days, but since we haven't had any rainy days, it's been far too long since we were in the tomato houses, and they were desperate for some attention! You can see in the front of the above picture some cherry tomato vines that have been lowered by Farmer Sean and pruned up. Further back in the row you can see what the plants look like before they have been pruned. When pruning, we typically remove all leaves lower than shoulder height, and keep each plant to a single vine or "leader."
We were also finally able to start lowering the vines down by unravelling some of the twine they are held up with. This helps us to be able to reach the fruits when we are picking, and allows us to remove the old leaves and "suckers" (extra vines) that are sprouting from the main "trunk" of each vine easily. This is the first year we've employed the lowering system, and we are really excited about the good results we are seeing! Sure, it's extra work, but keeping vines pruned up tidily helps improve air flow and minimize disease pressure. This will help us to continue to grow better quality fruits later in the season.
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Once lowered, the vines kind of curl up around each other in the beds along the ground. As they lay there, the vines will likely set out extra roots where they are touching the ground. Tomatoes are pretty amazing plants!
Meanwhile, this is what our slicer tomato house looked like BEFORE we started pruning up the vines:
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That's supposed to be a pathway between plants right there - yikes! We could hardly get down the rows to start pruning. To tackle this project, two of us were on ladders untangling plants, unravelling the twine and lowering the plants. Two more people followed behind and pruned off the lower leaves and suckers.
After a little (ok, a LOT!) of attention, they started shaping up once more. Again, removing all of that extra foliage will really do wonders in keeping fruit quality high as the season progresses by keeping good air flow and minimizing disease. As organic farmers, we have to rely on good management techniques like this to prevent disease instead of chemicals to control it.
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Just look at all of those beautiful tomatoes! Starting this week, we're going to increase the size of the bags of tomatoes from 1# to 1.5# each to make sure you can get your fill of tomatoes while they are in their prime. We'll also continue to offer 10# cases of slicer tomatoes for making salsa, canning, freezing, or juicing. Try roasting or broiling them in your oven before freezing for even more flavor! This week, we'll have plenty more cilantro micros, as well as basil and basil micros to complement all those wonderful tomatoes.
Not sure how to use these tasty tomatoes?
Fresh salsa with REAL vine ripened tomatoes is outta this world! Cucumber salad with tomatoes and fresh basil and Fred's Fancy Feta is fantastic - and we've figured out that drizzling the salad with balsamic glaze is sheer perfection. Don't wait for Tuesday to have taco night - all these fresh veggies with fresh cilantro make the best tacos around. And I am pretty sure that BLT's are the official sandwich of summer.
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We weren't the only ones that found shelter this week in the hoophouses. We've been keeping our eye on a little nest in the cucumber hoophouse for the last two weeks. Last week we saw 4 tiny tiny eggs that were laid in the nest. This week, we saw 2 babies and 2 eggs in the nest on Tuesday, and then on Thursday we saw that all 4 eggs were hatched now!
We haven't seen the mama bird, but she must be a little thing, because those eggs were each no bigger than a dime. If that nest was located outside in a tree, with the storms that came through this week, I doubt that all 4 eggs would have been protected enough to hatch successfully. It's not just us farmers that have a hard time with big hail storms and wild weather patterns.
We marked where the nest was in the row so we are able to give the new family some space when we come through and pick cukes every other day. It'll be pretty special to be able to watch these little buggers fledge out in the coming weeks. :)
That's it from the farm this week. Enjoy those tomatoes in every way, shape and form while you can! Take good care, and enjoy the weekend!
In community,
Farmer Chris and the crew
Great Oak Farm
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