Hi everyone!
First off, if this is your first week, welcome! Here is a link to last week's farm happening if you want to start with that:
https://www.harvie.farm/happenings/harvest-thyme-farm/15366/farm-happenings-for-week-of-june-1st-2
It's been a busy week around here; this nicer weather finally has things growing the way they should be (unfortunately, weeds included). All of the ups and downs (and insane downpours) have sure slowed things down; this is probably the latest our crops have been in the seven years we've been doing this. Obviously, not our most ideal situation, but we're doing the best we can to get things moving along.
The cucumbers started to set fruit in the tunnels this week and tomatoes are sizing up nicely - it's years like these we're happy we have the protected environment of hoophouses to grow in. Everything in the field has started to take off with the warmer nights we've been having - it always tests our patience to watch it all just sit there every spring until it gets settled in.
While the crops may be a bit behind, we're happy to say we're not. We've almost doubled our labor hours this year, so we're finally able to get everything done that needs to be done each week, even with a big jump in our planned production. While the schedule is full and the to-do list never seems to get any shorter, things sure are progressing nicely. Our crew this year has the perfect mix of serious and fun with a whole ton of ambition to make this the best season we've had yet.
Curious what a "normal week" looks like around here?
Make a plan - there's a million things to do each week and we can't afford to miss one. We typically spend Sundays doing small tasks (today's include installing the fertilizer injector for the hoophouses and fixing some irrigation - you can be sure that a mile of irrigation lines will have a leak somewhere virtually every day) and planning the day-by-day tasks for the week ahead.
Mondays are typically spent harvesting in the morning and prepping fields for the upcoming weeks' planting when the harvesting is done. We're trying to stay two weeks ahead in our field prep this year so we can flame down the first batch of weeds that comes up with a backpack torch before we plant to reduce the weed pressure a bit. Once field prep is done, we're onto weeding - a daily staple around here!
Some of us pack the first batch of Veggie Boxes for the week on Tuesday mornings for delivery in the afternoon. The rest of us are either seeding in the greenhouse, moving plants out of the greenhouse to harden off or doing some of the various field work tasks like trellising the outdoor tomatoes and peppers, giving crops their second fertilizer application or fixing the irrigation that inevitably is leaking again somewhere. Then, again, it's on to weeding once the weather warms up and the soil dries out.
Wednesdays and Thursdays primary focus is box packing and delivery, with some field seeding and yet again, more weeding thrown in when we get a chance.
The big task for Fridays is trellising the hoophouses. We have right around 1,500 cucumber and tomato plants that need to be pruned, trellised and get some leaves removed. This takes three of us around four hours to complete. The afternoon is typically a mix of field work to wrap up most of the list for the week.
Saturday mornings are spent at the farmers market. This year we'll have three of us working on Saturdays, so someone can stay at the farm and keep getting more work done.
In the meantime, there's the harvest estimates, the emails, the supply orders and everything else that goes into keeping it all running. Needless to say, you won't catch us sitting around wondering what to do.
Well, it's time to go fix that irrigation and make this week's plan.
Hope everyone has a good week!
-Brendan & Greta
