Drought Conditions!
We hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and celebrated being Food Patriots! We have the Red (the beets), the White (the onions) and the Blue will be coming soon (blue potatoes). Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and one of our founding fathers, considered himself a man of the land. He was one of America's early agronomists and is credited as introducing Brussels sprouts, eggplant, cauliflower & broccoli to America. He is quoted as saying that "those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God...." He promoted crop rotation, use of fertilizer and contour plowing. He wrote: "No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth and no culture comparable to that of the garden."
No rain fell during the past week and there is no rain in the forecast for this week. We are spending a lot of time keeping the crops watered. We need to move the hoses and overhead sprinklers on a daily basis between our different fields. The drip irrigation system is working well, but the drip irrigation is installed only on the wrapped beds. We depend on the overhead sprinklers for all the other beds & fields. We hope to install some more sprinklers soon so we don't have to keep moving them.
The US Drought Monitor has the northeast listed as D-0 - Abnormally dry for 24% of the area. The area they illustrate does show all of NJ and southern NY and eastern PA to be included in this 24%. Their scale goes from none to D-4 which is an exceptional drought condition. They also have listed that we have a deficit of 1.3" of precipitation over the last 30 days which is 66% of normal precip for Sussex County.
Weather plays such an important role in agriculture. We love to look at historical data to see how each season relates to the past. Last year, the month of June yielded 7.93" of rain and this year only 2.40" fell for the whole month. The record high for the 4th of July was recorded as 100ºF in 1966 and the record low as 41ºF in 1986. (source: Location: Sussex 2NE, NJ http://www.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=phi )
Crop Report
planted this week:
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Zucchini Herbs
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Peppers Oriental greens |
Lettuce Kale
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What's up & growing:
The fava bean field that was harvested is being readied for planting this week. The garlic harvest continues, though the bulbs are on the small side. So far the tomato plants are looking good as we continue to irrigate the fields. The eggplant and peppers are in great shape too, whereas the broccoli is suffering. It apparently it is not liking the hot-hot weather.
Weather Report: As noted, there has been a total lack of rain over the past week and in general over the last month as well. The ground is parched & cracked. John was tilling up the back field and created a "dust bowl". When he got off the tractor he was covered in dust. We have to run water to get the soil workable and ready to plant this week. It looks like the Mohave Desert back there! We do have a good system of overhead sprinklers for that area. We ran water on the drip line for two days straight and the soil is still bone dry.
Animal report: We have a dill loving critter and the rabbit continues to munch on the kohlrabi leaves. The "pests" have arrived! The cabbage worms are eating the Brussels sprouts and the potato beetles are eating the eggplant. The squash beetles are eyeing out the squash. Since we do not spray anything to keep them away, we have been hand picking them off of the plants so they are somewhat under control. We also depend on our "air-force". The birds will swoop down and enjoy the cabbage worms and there are other beneficial insects that help out too!
Fruit Deliveries Start The fruit we deliver is from Windy Brow Farm located on Route 519 in Fredon Township, just south of Newton, NJ, and we have been delivering their fruit for about 7 years now. Usually, the fruit deliveries start towards the end of July, but the peaches were ready early this year! This week's harvest is Flaming Fury Peaches.
Week of July 5th - Pick of the Week: click on the links below or to the right to bring you to the delivery specific to your pick-up location. Deliveries will be of similar variety & poundage, but may contain different items at anytime during the season. Occasionally, some crops are ready to harvest but not enough to deliver to all our drop-off locations. What we do is start to filter them in each week to a different drop-off until there is enough to delivery to everyone.
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