As I mentioned in last week's Farm Happenings this has been a very challenging start to the season for us. Early on it was really wet and we struggled to be able to get into the fields to plant. When it finally dried out we went like crazy to plant and while we are still behind on our plantings are now making decent progress to get caught back up. Once the rains seemed to slow down the heat got turned up! I have a rule that once it hits 100 "feels like" temperature the Crew goes home so there has been a couple few days were they have not worked full days. This has also slowed us down some but their health and safety is very important to me. We've started earlier in the day than normal to still get a decent amount of work done before it get's real hot. The hot temperatures have also had an effect on many of your spring crops. Radishes and arugula have already started to bolt (produce a flower stalk) so I'm thinking this is going to be one of the last week's for Radishes and Arugula is done until the Fall when we plant again.
In talking with grower friends around Central Iowa we all made the observations that pest insects and disease have come earlier and in greater quantities than we've ever seen before this time of year. Luckily, the pest insects haven't been much of an issue for us "yet" and we are keeping on top of scouting for them. Your spinach planting ( 4 rows each row 250ft long) has succumb to Bacterial Wilt which is caused by high humidity/moisture. Normally what I would have expected us to harvest for a month or so we got one small harvest off of and then it got wiped out. We've also noticed some disease pressure in the Cabbage and Broccoli plantings but are rouging out diseased plants as we see them and hopefully this will help.
Lastly, we lost the plastic on one of our high tunnels early Friday morning as you can see from the photo. There was a slight tear in the plastic that we tried to repair with greenhouse patch tape as a quick fix until the roll of new plastic arrived. Well, the late night/early morning winds had different plans and decided to take the plastic off : ).
This season is starting out with a lot of challenges but there has been some positive things as well. We still have tons of healthy plants ready to go in the ground that will be providing many of the summer treats (tomatoes, basil, watermelon, summer squash, etc.) for us to enjoy! The garlic crop looks amazing (some of you may remember last year we had a crop failure) and we are already harvesting garlic scapes to include in this week's share which is much earlier than "normal". The Sugar Snap Peas are full of blossoms and we're eagerly awaiting to harvest them! The first week of deliveries went fairly smooth with only a few minor glitches! We've added many new farm protocols for health and safety (wearing gloves and masks when handling your food, switching over to rigid plastic totes that can be easily sanitized after each use, etc) and the Crew has done an amazing job adapting to these changes!!!
Have a great week,
Farmer Ben and the Crew
