Reprieve from the Hot Weather
The weather finally broke at the end of the week and we were able to get an incredible amount of work done. Some all important field work was accomplished. Weeding, staking the tomatoes and cucumbers and transplanting into the back field were all accomplished on Thursday. Zucchini, beans and various greens were all planted for deliveries in the fall. On Friday, the greenhouses were cleaned up and straightened out as it was raining most of the day. Though a mundane task it was one that had to be done. 
Sunday morning, the crew started early and finished harvesting for the delivery. Lisa and Ali sorted the harvest for each delivery site as they do every week. Michael and Farmer Rich worked in the field seeding new crops. Though it seems they are planting late for some of the crops, it really works out well as any earlier it was just too dry and the crops would have been lost. With the current rain, the soil is perfect to accept the new seeds and there is more rain in the forecast. Planted on Sunday was: Dill, Early Wonder Beets, Dikon Radishes, Golden Ball Turnips, Torazorah, Cilantro and Cherry Bell Radishes.
Michael Preparing the Bed for Seeding
Franklin Greenhouse Report: Replanting is on schedule in the Franklin greenhouse. Some thoughts are to plant carrots again in the beds, as the first crop did very well. The husk cherries, which were slow to start, should start to show up in the deliveries soon. The ginger crop is coming along, though small. Newly seeded China Rose radishes are up & growing. The Hot Pepper crop is also doing well. We made a special planting of Orange King tomatoes in the greenhouse that we are actually saving for seed for next year. There are only 2 sources of this very scarce seed that we have been able to find, so we’ll save our own seed for this variety.
From the Fields: We planted some favas for fava greens. The eggplant, tomatoes and peppers in the round field are doing well and the harvest from that field should be starting in the next several weeks. We have been having some problems with the main field. When it was first planted it was too wet, and recently it has been too dry. This recent rain has perked everything up and it looks like it will produce rather well in a few weeks.
Weather Report: It was a super HOT week until we finally received some relief on Thursday. Some severe thunderstorms moved through the area on Wednesday night and a few farms in the area were hit with hail, which totally destroyed some of their crops. We were lucky that no severe hail fell on our farm, though some small hail did fall and hit the chard crop (which you will notice). We finally receive some rain this week. A good “soaking-in” rain fell on Friday for most of the day. This really perked up the field crops. Over 2” of rain fell during the Thursday & Friday storms.
Animal report: With the dry conditions, the animals have been on patrol seeking out greener pastures. The fencing is doing its job by keeping them out and we hope none decide to burrow in. The rabbits continue to bump into each other, as there are so many of them! Very comical to see and we only wish we had a video camera on them in the field. The small animals seem to have taken over from the larger animals, which is more of a nuisance. The chipmunks sneak into the greenhouse and take a taste of a tomato now and then. Interestingly, we haven’t had the chipmunks around for years.
Week of July 23rd - 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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