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Monday, September 13, 2010

Volume 15 - No 15 - Week of September 13th

Splash of Rain !

Sunday brought a splash of rain. Something is better than nothing, but we are still in drought conditions. NJ State DEP issued their 2nd Drought Watch this summer, the first being on August 5th and the second on September 8th. The drought conditions impact us as well as the hot weather all spring & summer. The press release posted on their website http://www.njdrought.org/ has the following statement: "According to State Climatologist David Robinson of Rutgers University, New Jersey is experiencing its warmest summer (June-August) on record since weather data has been kept starting in 1895. This followed the warmest spring on record. Every month since March has ranked in the top 10 of all time for heat, with August ranked 10th, July ranked 2nd and June as the first hottest month in the past 105 years."

Each year we hope for the perfect season, and it never seems to come. Last year was too cold & wet and this year is too hot & dry. We adapt, though it is often a struggle. Even the plants have what is called "stress" during a season like we have had. Most evident was the tomatoes which experienced extra heat stress which led to decreased production.

What's up & growing:We hope to seed some mustard & arugula in some open beds for the late October deliveries. It may be a little late but we should get something. As beds are opening up in the back field, we will prepare the beds for planting garlic. The winter squash crop looks good but the squash are small, due to the lack of water during their growing season. The crew picked quite a few this past week and will harvest more during the rest of the week. The tomatoes are slowing up, but there are still more to be harvested. The peppers and eggplant should last for another week or two, depending on the weather.

With the cooler temperatures the cherry tomato plants in our Franklin greenhouse are finally setting fruit. They have been non-producers all summer with the high temperatures. We hope they will produce for late October delivery and are protected from any frost that may take place since the plants are in the greenhouse.

On a negative side we lost most of our turnips and red meat radishes to pests. Two planting of radishes and one planting of mustard bolted with the hot temperatures. Powdery mildew wiped out the cucumber plants, almost overnight.

Weather Report: As reported earlier, just a splash of rain fell on Sunday and no further rain is in the forecast for the rest of this week. The mornings have been chilly and warm In the afternoon which makes for pleasant working in the fields. This week we were in the high 40's. Farmer Rich has been spending a lot of time moving hoses to irrigate the fields. Basically the fields are dead-dry!

Animal report: With the dry conditions, pressure from animals increases. They look for ways to break through the fence to get into the fields. One groundhog devoured the lettuce crop last week and another one just loved the yellow peach tomatoes! A trellis of tomatoes fell over because it was too heavy which left a banquet table full of tomatoes for the voles to feast on. Next year we will have to make stronger trellises.

Fruit Delivery: Tonight's delivery we have some great Cox Orange Pippin Apples from Windy Brow Farm. It is considered to be one of the best dessert apples ever! The variety originated in England and was introduced in 1825.

Week of September 13th - 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.

UPCOMING EVENTS

9th Annual Garlic Gathering- Olde Lafayette Village - Lafayette, NJ

Saturday / Sunday October 2nd & 3rd
11 am - 4 pm

4th Annual Garlic Fest- Hoboken Historical Museum - 1301 Hudson Street

· Sunday October 17th 1 pm - 5 pm

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