Please note that there are several reminders and business items listed at the end of this newsletter - please take a look.
Farm News and Crop Updates
It has been a good week on the farm. We got though our second week of farm share deliveries and stayed on schedule during our 50-stop delivery route. We had been a bit nervous about whether things would pan out on the road as they has planned on paper, but so far so good. We did have a truck issue arise after deliveries on the way back to the farm, however. We'll be taking a look at that on Monday and hoping it doesn't end up being something major that would put the truck out of commission for a time. Looks like more moderate temps next week, so worst case scenario is we have to rent a U-Haul truck for one round of deliveries.
At the farm, we have been been spending much of our time on harvest and packing, weeding and cultivating, and trellising the tomatoes and cucumbers that are growing like weeds right now. We are starting to feel that pivot from spring mode, dominated by planting and other projects, to summer mode that is dominated by lots and lots of harvest. It's exciting to see several new crops on the harvest horizon (see below).
Another project occupying my time is upgrading components of our irrigation system to allow us to better utilize the increased water volume potential we gained when we drilled a new well last season. Our system for moving water out to the fields to connect to sprinklers is currently "layflat" hose that's relatively small diameter (2") and tolerates only moderate water pressure. This limits us to smaller sprinklers that cover fairly small areas at a time, so we're only using maybe 25% of our well's capacity.
We are replacing this hose with 4"-6" aluminum pipes that will move lots of water with negligible friction loss (reduction of pressure as water flows through hose). This will allow us to irrigate 2+ acres at a time rather than 0.5-1 acre we can currently cover. See photos below of some of the pipe we picked up and two giant sprinklers we will try using once the system is in place.
As for the crop outlook, next week's new items should include French Breakfast radishes and fennel bulbs. Plus more lettuce, peas, zucchini, and herbs. In two weeks, we should start harvesting from our last spring spinach planting, and picking the first cucumbers, beets, and maybe a small amount of cherry tomatoes. Carrots should show up the week after that.
Notes on items for this week's box:
- Bigger harvest of broccoli this week, so more members should see them in their shares. Heads are still medium sized from this early maturing spring variety. You may notice a common physiological condition on this broccoli called "cateye." Looks like little light green spirals of beads on the head. You've probably seen it before and it's nothing to worry about. This variety is prone to developing cateye when exposed to both very hot and cooler temperatures, which we have definitely seen in recent weeks.
- Just a small number of radish bunches from a planting we left for lost due to early flea beetle damage. The beetles diminished over the last week and I was surprised to see a decent row of medium sized radishes that will be ready for the upcoming box. The greens won't be pretty due to insect damage. (Next week's French Breakfast radishes were well protected with row cover and should be beautiful!)
- Folks will receive zucchini and/or summer squash, depending on yields from our planting. About half will coming from our planting and we will bring in the other half from Seeds Farm, fellow organic farmers in Northfield.
- Basil - looking beautiful right now. Just a reminder that these leaves are very tender and susceptible to bruising if pinched, and they don't like the cold - try to keep above degrees. Transfer to plastic bag or trim stem ends and place in water in order to keep leaves perky. We do not wash them since it damages the leaves - they should be pretty clean, but you'll want to rinse before use.
- Spring garlic is a new one for us - this idea came to us from Sarah, our postharvest manager and delivery driver. We took the small heads of garlic from last year's crop that weren't marketable and planted them in the field this spring. These are bunched like scallions and stem and bulbs can be lightly sauteed. The flat leaves of garlic aren't directly edible, but are great for making stock.
Reminders and business items
- There are still a number of members who have not filled out their preferences survey - please do so in order to have your share personalized for you. Click the "Preferences" link in the top menu of your Harvie page. https://www.harvie.farm/member/preferences
- Members who purchased pre-season shares are subscribed to our Farm Stand listserv, which is notified on weeks when we have more produce available than is needed to fulfill shares for members. Last week, those members received both their standard weekly email ("Time to Customize your Share") along with a farm stand availability email ("Purchase from the Farm Stand..."). I just want to clarify that Farm Stand shares are outside of your regular share - if you have a regular share already coming, just customize and add extras as needed to that share. I wish these emails did not go out to members already receiving a regular share that week, but I have no control over that. If you'd rather not receive Farm Stand emails, I would recommend that you unsubscribe. Just scroll to the bottom of a Farm Stand email and click, "unsubscribe from all emails about Sogn Valley Farm's Farm Stand."
- Please check the pickup location in your Customization email to make sure it is the one you expected. We have heard from members who changed their pickup location for their first delivery, thinking they had changed it for the entire season when in fact the change had only affected a single delivery. As a result, their second and future boxes were still set to be delivered to their original location. If you realize the pickup needs to be changed for the upcoming delivery, please email me or Harvie support so we can get it changed and delivered where you expected it to.
- Make note of the customization window, which ends Sunday night at 8:00 pm. This gives you over 24 hours to make changes to your share but also gives us enough time to harvest and pack shares.
- You do NOT have to customize your share. If you like the box that's proposed to you, do nothing and it will be available at your delivery location and time.
- If you have questions about something in the Harvie platform, please reach out to their support team: support@harvie.farm. They know their software interface far better than the farmer does and their help relieves administrative burden on us.
- Members on payment plans should just be charged 50% of your weekly box cost going forward, which is $18 for Family Shares and $11 for Personal Shares. Adding extras or making swaps that increase the value of the box will incur charges beyond that.
- Please remember to bring a tote bag for your veggies and leave the plastic share boxes at your pickup site. For home delivery members, just make sure to keep your box in a clean space and leave it out for us to pick up the following week.
Thanks, and have a wonderful week!
Dana
