We continue to be very dry and exceptionally warm here on the farm. Unfortunately, we did not get any rain when the storms last Friday rolled through (though we did get a tipped over chicken coop, check out our social media for pictures of that adventure). Our next chance for rain is tonight or tomorrow but the chances are low. The lack of rain and exceptional heat has direct impacts on the farm. I'll list some of the most serious issues below.
- Crops are slow to grow. Our vegetables don't have the water they need to thrive and so their growth slows as they conserve energy to stay alive longer. Holding out for a potential future rain.
- The seeds we plant don't germinate. Germination is essential for our vegetables and nearly all seeds require moisture to germinate. We have seeds that we have planted within the past two weeks that are still laying in the dry ground. This delays harvest and reduces the germination rate of our seeds.
- Some crops don't taste right. We won't have arugula and radishes this spring due to poor flavor or low quality. Our radishes are extremely spicy and the arugula is very bitter. We love to be able to provide a wide gamut of things but the heat has made radish and arugula unfit for sale this season. Other crops we're concerned about are our future lettuce plantings and peas. Both do not tolerate heat very well though they are continue to grow. We will see.
- We spend more time and money on irrigation. We do have some irrigation but it's not enough to irrigate our full 3 acres. This means we have to move the irrigation supplies around to certain areas that need water the most. We've also spent extra money on irrigation equipment to make sure we still get crops. We've never had to irrigate like this before.
All that said, we will still harvest crops from our farm this season. It's just going to take a lot more work on our end to make it happen. We've setup drip tape on field crops like peppers and tomatoes. We will continue to move our irrigation equipment around the farm to keep things going until we eventually do get rainfall.
To change gears for a minute, our CSA season started this week and we're excited about the variety we had available for the shares! We had beets, strawberries and carrots available as a swap and extras as well as a lot of our usual spring items like lettuce, spinach, and cilantro along with some new items like salad turnips. These new items are based on feedback we received last season about trying to increase the variety of items available. We'll continue to do that this season so you can get the most out of your CSA.
Finally, in a year like this, where the weather is far from ideal, your support means everything to our farm. It helps us keep going both financially, but more importantly, emotionally. Farming is a risky business and we rely on a lot of variables that are out of our control. Thank you for supporting us and we're looking forward to the rest of the season!
