D&V Organics CSA
Week 5
Even though last week's rain came with some fury, three inches of rain was exactly what the farm needed after such a dry month of May. When the weather gets hot and dry and if the fields don't receive rainfall, it's not ideal for our soil biology and structure to be running equipment to work up our fields, and conversely, when the fields are saturated with water it's not good practice to work the fields with equipment. Despite having such a big rain event, the fields really soaked up the moisture, and 36 hours after the rain, our soil was dry enough to resume our operations with preparing fields for our late summer and fall crops. This past week we have been busy with getting new successions of crops planted. Our plan for fall things is coming together, with the crew starting seedlings in the greenhouse to supply things into the fall months. We grew some really nice cover crops this spring, which got mowed and needed to be tilled into the soil, but we were holding out until rain came our way. There is some level of gratification in growing a big green cover crop, mowing it down and knowing that when it gets worked in it will feed the soil microbes, making the quality of our soil and subsequent crops that much better. It's one thing to be excited about the things we are growing on the farm, but it's another thing to have some excitement for the practices we are employing to better the farm over the long run, maybe that is organic farming in a nutshell.
Enjoy,
Derek and Crew
