Hello CSA Members! My name is Connor and it’s my first season at Featherstone Farm as a crop manager. Previously, I worked on a couple vegetable farms in Iowa, including one ran by a former manager at Featherstone – Dan Fillius, who was a major part of the reason why I’m here. It’s been a joy getting to know all the people, systems, and fields here in the Driftless region. One challenge has been learning all about the equipment used on the farm (I had never used a gear-driven tractor before), but I’m getting the hang of it!
The crops on the farm that I help manage include: cilantro, celery, celeriac, fennel, sweet corn, beans, parsley, dill, and last but not least carrots! The lion’s share of my focus the past few weeks have been on the fall carrots, a substantial crop for the farm as many of you know. Between their long germination time, slow growth, and lack of an ability to compete or shade out weeds, farmers work hard for carrots! They are well worth it, from their richness in beta-carotene, vitamin A, and fiber, to the sweetness that develops as they mature in colder weather in the fall.
The first step with carrots is a fine, raised bed where the first flush of weeds has germinated and then they are cultivated out. Then comes the seeding, we use a vacuum seeder to seed two lines, two rows in each bed shown here:
.jpg)
Carrot seeds require even, constant moisture to germinate so we put sprinklers on them right away. Six or seven days later, it’s time to use my favorite tool on the farm, the flame weeder! By day 6 there is usually the 2nd flush of weeds, but the carrots are not quite above the surface yet. We use the flame weeder to burn the weeds, it is satisfying to watch the weeds melt behind you!
Pics of the flame weeder
After the carrots come up and are about 2 inches tall, it’s time to do the first cultivation! There will be at least three cultivations on each bed, where the soil is shallowly stirred with different implements to uproot/bury the next few flushes of small weeds. In between those cultivations, there is usually 1-2 hand weeding’s to get the tough in-row weeds that are hard to cultivate out. We just finished doing some of the hand weeding this past week. It is a hard task but satisfying to work with a large crew and look at a clean field afterward!
Carrots newly cultivated
Mote hand weeding them
Eventually, the carrots will be harvested, washed, packed, and sent out or put in storage. We look forward to sharing the bounty with you this fall and winter! One thing I’ve realized is how fast the season goes by! Pretty soon we will be seeing our last crops of the year. I’m proud to be one of your farmers this season and grateful you’re part of Featherstone’s CSA!
Take Care,
Connor
