As we come up on the final two weeks of Summer CSA, I really hope you, your family and friends have enjoyed the veggies coming from our fields this year. We’re already thinking about and starting to plan for the 2022 season, with the successes and challenges of this year fresh in our minds. And as we harvest all of the carrots and cabbages and plant many acres of cover crops, allowing fields to rest until next year, our high tunnels remain active, a place where fresh growth is happening and lessons continue to be learned.
This summer we grew our second crop of high tunnel tomatoes, learning more about variety selection, irrigation, pest control and fertilization. The tunnels allow us more control of the growing environment- around moisture in particular, and it was exciting to tend to mostly disease free plants and harvest so much beautiful fruit for our CSA and wholesale customers.
Ophelia back in August, pruning our high tunnel tomatoes
In mid-September, we pulled out all of the tomatoes to prep for winter crops. While it’s sad to see the tomatoes go, it’s important that we plant spinach and greens for our Winter CSA early enough so they establish strong root systems before daylight falls below 10 hours per day in early November.
Transplanting our winter CSA spinach last month so it's ready for winter shares!
After this point in the season, seeds for newly sown crops may germinate, but they will grow very very slowly until 10 hour days return in February and growth speeds up. And so, during the week of September 20th, we planted almost 11,000 bed feet of spinach along with 1200’ of arugula and 1700’ of lettuce in preparation for the winter season.
We also added another 30’x140’ high tunnel this spring, so we're excited to be able to offer that much more greens for our winter CSA this year! Winter growing is a totally different ballgame (especially in Minnesota!) and it’s been fun and challenging learning the past couple years through research, farm visits, & experimentation. We've only just begun and we have our sights on eventually offering year round shares with our high tunnel production ramping up.
Thank you all for being part of our farm community and for supporting us as we continue to grow and learn how to better feed our community and soil all year round. I can’t wait to share fresh spinach and other fresh green crops with you this winter! So if you haven't already signed up for the winter, join us today as we are about to sell out soon! If you're still considering it, just click here for all the details. And if you're ready to join, just log into your account here. Once you log in, click on the "My Farms" tab and then click on "Place Order." You'll then be prompted through the sign up process.
Gratefully,
Abby Benson
Field Production Coordinator
p.s. look how lovely your fennel for next week's share is looking in the field this morning:
