We had a great time giving a tour and work day experience to some of the staff and summer interns at Big Garden Omaha this week! These women spent the summer learning about growing and cooking vegetables and how to teach those skills to children of all ages. Big Garden works directly with many schools in the Omaha Public School system and are doing great things!
Fall CSA Registration will begin SOON! Stay Tuned!
Crops Behind Schedule?
Last week at CSA pick up I had several members all ask me how my tomatoes were doing this year and if everything seemed later this year. If you are also wondering about this, my answer is yes!
Typically this time of year we have so many tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant we don’t know what to do with them all! But this year they seem to just be puttering along barely increasing their harvest-able yields from week to week.
Why is that? One reason for us is that many of our summer crops were planted 2-3 weeks behind schedule because of several weeks of rainy and wet conditions in May and early June. Another reason may be that we have not had many “heat” days this summer. Many crops need a certain number of “growing degree days” before they will come to maturity and have adequate fruit set. Or perhaps we are just experiencing a decreased yield right now because of the heat snap we had in mid-July that would have caused most of the fruit blossoms to drop before pollination could occur. Regardless of why there may be a lull in production, all we can do is hope that it starts up again soon!
In The Fields
We’ve had another busy week of planting before the rain and then many days of slipping through the mud to harvest and tend crops and animals in the fields. We are crossing our fingers for the first melons the week of 8/21! They look so close and even though I am sure they won’t be ready, I fool-heartedly keep cutting open melons just to make sure and being disappointed every time!
Happy Eating!
Farmer Chloe
