As we wait for the summer treats of tomatoes to start (oh so soon!) it feels that our bounty is a little curtailed this week. There's lots of different things, but not a lot of many things. Plenty to go around, just not what we had planned!
Many of you ask how things are going at the farm when you pick up, and I'm guessing the rest of you are curious too. Usually I can keep up my optimism, but it's always sad to see garden beds that don't produce anything to share with you. We're seeing a few of those at the moment. It's part of the process of farming and feeding you, but that doesn't mean it's easy to see! A cilantro planting that bolted long before we could bunch them. A round of cucumbers that gave us one crate on first harvest instead of 10 crates... because the beetles killed most of the plants before they could establish. A round of beans that decided to grow gnarly and stunted (and barely any beans) that they weren't even worth picking. Our kale beds are just starting to produce after a big setback from the flea beetles (expect some holes in your leaves, call it cooking kale not yet salad kale ;) The first planting of zucchini's is winding down, and the second hasn't quite hit it's full capacity yet (so less of those this week, but lots more to come this summer). A round of celery that was lost in the weeds because we didn't have time to hand weed the holes in the mulch - at least those I'd like to save and offer you up baby celery bunches ;)
We've got lots more bounty ahead and almost ready to share but it is hard to see crops fail. That's part of why we plant so many different ones, because when some fail others thrive. Another technique we use is to plant in succession. The term we use to say that we plant it several times in a year, so that as one bed finishes producing the next bed becomes ready to harvest. Our second round of cucumbers is looking good, same with the second second round of beans. So in short, lots more to come and thank you for your patience as we navigate drought, pest pressures, and staffing issues. It feels like we're through the worst of it and there's lots more ahead!
New this week are fresh white onion bunches, I've put the last of our storage onions on for swapping if you like (but none filling automatically into your bags in case you're tired of them ;) We'll be bunching baby leeks, and we'll be doing a first pick of our kale plants this week! For Wednesday delivery this week we've teamed up with a fellow farmers Ed and Sandi Taylor of Honey Wagon Farm in Picton to offer up more kale bunches for you. They produce without the use of herbicides, fungicides or pesticides but they do use fertilizer (not organic). It didn't take me long farming to learn that knowing a farmer and how they grow is worth way more than an "organic" rubber stamp. He diligently vacuum's the potato beetles off his plants with an inspiring field setup! We all choose our own ways to grow. I am happy to enjoy their veggies, and since their in person markets have been closed and we were tight on targets this week about half the kale going out this Wednesday is from our fields the other half from theirs. It is rare that we source from other farmers, but I always like to make it clear when we do. Please swap if that's not ok by you!
