New this Week: Chard, Baby Carrots, Mixed Sunflower Bouquets, and maybe some Cucumbers!
We hope everyone is enjoying their veggies and other delicious goodies from Cherry Valley Organics! We are so happy to have you as farm share members this season. We know you have a lot of choices about where to purchase food, and it means everything to us and our small business partners that you have chosen to support our farms. Thank you!
Updates from the Farm
Wow, we are having another tough week here as the rain continues to dump on us and the plants every day. Overall, the rain makes it more difficult to work in the fields (yes, we do keep working unless there's lightning) because we are trudging around through the mud and fighting our rain gear and boots. It also makes it harder to grow crops as well. The weed pressure is unbelievable since most weeds thrive with this much water. Small crops just can't outpace weed growth. And, the humans can't weed fast enough to stay ahead of the weeds either! Incessant rain and high humidity also creates conditions where fungal diseases thrive and we need to be careful when and how we enter crop fields so as not to perpetuate disease like blight on tomatoes or powdery mildew on squashes.
In addition to the weather challenges, we are also having some mechanical difficulties with our delivery truck and so if you see us driving around in a Ryder or U-haul rental truck, you'll know why! Our truck had a major transmission fluid line break recently on a delivery route. The line was repaired, but there was internal damage to the transmission and so now we wait for about 3 weeks for a used transmission to arrive and our local mechanics to make this major repair. Sometimes when it rains, it pours.
We are also working nonstop to replace the team members that have left us in the last month or so. If you know of anyone looking for work, even just part-time doing deliveries, working in our veggie packing shed, or in our Farm Market and Cafe. Please have them reach out to us!
Up this week, we'll be finishing up some greenhouse work, maintaining very aggressively growing tomato plants by staking, twining and installing more cages, and harvesting and delivering all of your veggies of course! Summer on the farm is a challenging time of year, but also quite rewarding as we see the fruits of our labors, including all those beautiful squash. We have declared 2021 the Year of the Squash! :-)
We'll be taking a break from salad mix and head lettuce here for a couple of weeks while we get the farm transitioned through the end of July. We will be starting with melons from Clarion River Organics in just another week or two, and that's VERY exciting! And, we are anticipating the first ripe heirloom tomatoes of the season very soon! We are definitely on tomato watch here!
Have a great week everyone, and thank you again for being a farm share member this season!!
Jodi, Emily, Vanessa, Clarissa, Mark, and Selena
The CVO Farm Share Team
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to vanessa@cherryvalleyorganics.com or to support@harvie.farm at any time.
