It was great to finally start harvesting a beet crop! Although I personally am not a big fan of beets it is fun to pull one up out of the ground and see how big the root actually is! Been hearing from a lot of farmer friends that they had horrible luck getting beets to germinate and we experienced the same for awhile this season, but kept planting and trying new varieties. We finally found a couple of varieties that did germinate well which is why we have a beet crop now. This "beet story" is a good example of what farming is all about! The weather patterns change but we've just got to keep planting and trying out new varieties that fit these ever changing weather patterns to keep all of us fed!
Speaking of weather, looking at the extended forecast it looks like we are going to have a lot of rain events in the upcoming week or two. You and I both know that weather forecasts are just liking looking at one of those old "Magic 8 Balls" sometimes it's spot on and other times, well the prediction may be a little (or a lot!) off. Regardless, the forecast has me a bit concerned we are going into weather patterns like we had last Fall. Fairly warm for this time of year (which is great!) but very rainy. For those of you who were members last year you may remember that it was too wet for us to get the garlic planted outside so we decided to plant it in one of our high tunnels. If nothing else, to harvest enough good sized bulbs to keep from having to buy new seed stock for this year's planting. Well, we tried to adapt the best we could and it didn't turn out well. So, this year we are having to buy new seed stock (around $2000) which is a big bummer! We learn new ways to adapt every season and this season the garlic field has already gotten a start in preparation for planting so we'll hopefully have a beautiful garlic harvest in 2020!
We've also began harvesting Winter Squash and happy to have them included in the Shares this week! The first ones to ripen are Delicatas and a type of Acorn called 'Carnival'. If you have a preference on which type you receive please shoot me an email and include your name (as it appears on your label), your drop site location and which you'd prefer to receive. We'll do our best to accommodate your request!
Until next week,
Farmer Ben and the Crew
