Things are full tilt at the farm. We spend our mornings harvesting while temperatures are still cool and then any time we can spare in the afternoon is filled with taming the weeds that thrive in the warm temperatures. Unexpectedly, bubbly water has become the farm crew's saving grace to keep us hydrated and cool on the hot days.
Our dugout has already been seriously tapped this spring and so we are trying to be as conservative as possible with our water use. I haven't been keeping track of the weather records that are being set, but I don't ever recall a year this hot and dry. This combination is a real challenge when managing a vegetable farm with finite water resources. We should be getting more water on the field but need to consider that the water we have access to needs to last the entire summer. Our cabbages in particular are taking a beating and the heads are forming much smaller than they have in previous years.
In spite of it all, there are some advantages to the warm weather. Our zucchini crop is coming online faster than expected and carrots are ready this week - much earlier than they have been in previous years.
For now, we are achieving a balance while I obsessively check the weather networks, hoping that we get some rain in the month of July.
