Wow, are we so incredibly grateful for this weekend’s rain! During such a hot week, I pretty much survived on sparkling water, river jumps, and Nuun hydration tablets with caffeine (Spindrift plz sponsor us.)
During this time of year, it is light more than it is dark, and the plants gain noticeable growth each day. With so much to do, it is also difficult to take time off to rest, so I was extremely content to take a half day off (first day off since April) over the weekend, prep some yarn for dyeing and watch Harry Potter while it was raining, like the geriatric millennial that I am.
Farm updates:Over the last few weeks, we managed to plant out many plant babies, including lots of winter squash, melons, brussels sprouts, leeks, edamame, and even more lettuce and roots, to make sure we keep you all fed this fall!
We also have been keeping up on pasture maintenance for our sheep by clipping back extra tall grass, irrigating, checking fence lines and forage density, etc. Hope we have a decent grazing season, despite such hot weather so far this year. We also have been checking in with our hay farmer to see how the hay looks this season and securing the 15-20 tons or so that we need to get through the winter.
Crops this week:
More roots are coming! We have struggled with wireworm munching through lots of our early plantings of roots and are really happy to have a limited amount of carrots and beets to offer. Wireworm (originally from Asia that arrived in ship ballast water in BC) has been making its way south. They can live up to 12 years in the soil before pupating and love eating organic matter, making a veggie farm like ours their perfect home. We have been trying to control them with beneficial nematodes, but still suffered substantial crop losses this spring. So sorry about this.
Garlic Harvest is coming up and we are excited to have our annual CSA garlic party! Come help us harvest and prep our garlic crop, visit the sheep, and jump in the river. More details to come, once the garlic indicates when it is close to harvest, usually sometime late June or early July. We are happy to welcome visitors back to the farm this season.
(Image Description: Celtuce or stem lettuce crop and two boots after the rain. Coming soon!)
