Ok, well, I'm declaring spring over even though summer doesn't officially start for another week...feels like summer to us anyway!
What does all this heat mean? Well, it means you'll be seeing some dog-tired sweaty farmers for a while and it means that cool season crops like peas and broccoli are about to call it quits.
Please stock up on sugar snap peas this week because this may be the last week we have them. 90+ degrees has put an end to flowering and all the peas are sizing up rapidly all at once! So, if they are available, don't be bashful about grabbing extras. We were hoping for a more gradual shift to warm weather which would have allowed for a longer harvest period, but alas, we don't make the weather decisions around here. We may try to sneak in a small fall planting of peas that might yield us another crop right near the end of the summer CSA season and into the beginning of the winter CSA season, but fall peas have been even more uncertain in our experience, but because we know you guys love them so much, we'll probably make a valiant attempt at a fall pea harvest and see what happens.
Say hello to summer crops!
Some crops are soaking up the sun and heat like the tomatoes, okra, eggplant, cucumbers, pole beans and peppers. This when they start to show us their heat-loving selves.
Most all the big plantings are complete for summer. We continue with our weekly plantings of things like lettuce, cilantro, radish, dill, turnip, arugula and bok choy, but now for many of the crops we need to keep up with weeding, trellising, pruning and harvesting.
Are you a Garlic Harvest Wannabe?
Dave is constantly keeping an eye on our different garlic varieties to see when we need to start harvesting them. It appears that our first to mature garlic will be ready to harvest in a week or so. Are you free this weekend? Or maybe the following week a weeknight might work for you. Let us know if you really want to help and maybe we can arrange a harvest party. We'll probably need to do the harvest in two or three different times based upon the different varieties getting ready at different times and then shortly after that we'll have onions to harvest. These are all fun things to do with a group and we have thousands of garlic to pull and take to the barn to cure.
Highlighted produce this week
- Sugar snap peas are at their apex. We have TONS!
- Radishes look great! They are big and juicy and we need to harvest them!
- Lettuce heads (All the careful successions of plantings went out the window with the onset of heat so there are a lot that need to go home with you).
- Cucumbers are pumping really nice. Love those things!
- Cherry tomatoes are still increasing and beefsteak tomatoes are increasing as well (It will be a while before the beefsteak tomatoes will be sufficient as we need the second round of plants to start producing in order for that to happen).
Bread and Cheese and Honey
Bread: Farm to Market Grains Galore Sliced Bread
Cheese: Hemme Brothers Original Curds, 10oz bag
We also have 1 pound bottles of honey available this week!
Just some Musings....
When it's hot and sticky out, the weeding and pruning can be a real challenge because those tasks are sort of "optional". You can always wait another day or two to pull that weed right? I hear myself saying, "It's hot out there, I don't want to hoe that row right now...." Well, trust me, and I'm sure any of you who've grown a garden can attest, it doesn't take long for a handful to tiny weeds to become an all-encompassing jungle.
"I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man."
Proverbs 24:30-34
That's a good ole' fashioned reminder that we all need to keep on the alert that we don't fall into laziness in an effort to seek ease and leisure. I find in myself a natural tendency to take the easy road, to do the least work possible. I find ample excuses why I deserve a rest. Historically, resting too much (i.e. laziness) could be fatal or at least earn the eyer of the neighbor vineyard keeper. But in 21st century America life can be so easy, can't it? Compare our lives to those of our ancestors who did not have machines to do their laundry, wash their dishes, even mow their grass without even lifting a finger (I've got to get me one of those robotic lawn mowers!).
And how do we fill the time that used to be spent working? Is all this freed up leisure time good for us? Where do you think the proper balance of work and leisure lies? Is work a blessing or a curse? What happens when the garden of our life is left to itself without some proper attention?
Have a great week!
Your farmers,
Dave and Sheri
