Hello Friends,
It's hard to believe that we are at the end of summer - even with it's tortuous rain and heat this year, it has blown by rather quickly. Because we grow so many crops for the CSA we can say that some have been successful while others have struggle with the conditions. This year we have grown all of our tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouses and with huge success. The tomates do have some nasty stem rot in them that is slowly spreading throughout the house but we will still have plenty of fruit for you and the markets. The summer lettuce has been mostly poor becasue of the rains. Any of the bagged lettuce were heads that we cut the hearts out and then chopped, washed and bagged it for you. I was surprised that we have had any beans. The bean beetle has been busy and most farms didn't have much. The quality is ok but not as good if it were drier here. Zucchini, melons and winter squash have been poor harvests. These are usually easy items to grow, pick and pack but this year's weed and disease pressure have been significant. The sweet corn has been mixed - but mostly due to my own errors. I tried to speed up production by transplanting early, but ended up with stunted plants and small ears. I think this last planting is turning out the best and this will most likely be the last week for sweet corn. Beets have been numerous but onions were a little small, but the cabbage was really sweet - it's a variety that I've been planting for years.
Fall CSA signups open this week. Be sure to open your email and read about it. If you don't want to participate then you will have to uncheck yourself or you will be automatically enrolled. We will send out another notice to remind you. The fall season will start the week after this season ends in mid-October and run until the Christmas holiday.
Thanks - and as always your feedback about our CSA is always appreciated!
Mike
