The biggest “news” from your farmers this week is DRY. While this dry weather pattern is great for outdoor activities, it is not good for farm crops. Some of our fields are irrigated, but others depend on the kindness of Mother Nature to water our crops. Every time there has been rain in the forecast recently it has fizzled out before it reached any of our farms. The photo at the top of this email is what the fields look like at Glacial Till Farm. Derek says, “The drip tape is doing its thing. I knew at some point I was going to be hustling to get water everywhere in the field. I’m very happy I put those main lines in over the winter.” He is irrigating not only current production beds but also the beds sown with cover crop in the photo.
Watermelons: There was some confusion with the watermelons in Week 11 CSA Shares. Since watermelons are so heavy and bulky, they don't travel well with other veggies, especially tender tomatoes. We usually put all the watermelons for each pickup location together in one or two boxes. How do you know if you're supposed to take a melon, you ask? You simply take the packing slip that labels your box out of the plastic sleeve and check the list. If you get a melon, it will be listed in your share contents, and you will also have a separate slip alerting you to take a melon out of the separate box, just like cheese, chicken, and ground beef shares that are in the cooler. Try to get in the habit of taking your packing slip(s) with you when you pick up your share. We have watermelons again this week, but there aren't enough for every share, so it's the luck of the draw to see if you have one in your share.
Bread and other baked goods are available on our Webstore this week, as well as a variety of veggies, milk, cheeses, and more. Head over there if you are looking for any of these items to be delivered with your Farm Share.
On behalf of your NWPA Growers farmers,
Amy Philson
