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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Catalpa Ridge News–Volume 19 No 4–Week of July 14th

Garlic Harvest !

Our ½ mile of garlic was harvested by the crew and is now in greenhouse curing. The curing process is when the flavors and richness of the variety sets in. There is about 1/3 of a row remaining which will be harvested on Wednesday. Probably over 20 different varieties had been planted in the fall, some with CSA member participation during the trip to the farm last year. This was planted earlier than normal but seems to have worked out well.

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One of many bins filled with garlic on the back of the truck

Franklin Greenhouse Report: The eggplant should be showing up in the deliveries over the next few weeks. The white icicle radishes are starting to show up at the delivery sites this week, though not enough for everyone this week they will eventually filter in to all the sites. The hot pepper selection is really impressive with at least 12 different varieties to be harvested. Some baby celery will be ready soon. We are about 95% replanted in the greenhouse. Unfortunately the ginger is not doing well this year despite several years of great production. Farmer Rich feels that this is due to the late start (which was close to one month late). It was difficult to force tropical plants into our climate this year. It was minus 4°F at the time we usually plant.

From the Fields:

The garlic is almost all harvested and it appears the crop is above average. Next week we will probably deliver the Elephant Garlic rounds and then start to deliver the different varieties that we grow. The fava beans are all harvested and we will start to remove the plastic from the garlic beds and brush hog both of those fields and start to plant some fall crops. The round field plantings are doing well, and they include broccoli, squash and kale. The chard, basil, kale, and collards in the main field are all doing great. Dory seeded lettuce, escarole, Chinese cabbage, and radicchio during the week for transplanting in a few weeks for the fall crops. More potatoes, Adirondack Blue, Adirondack Red and Yellow Fingerlings from Farmer Less are yet to be harvested from the main field. It appears that the plants have been very productive.

Weather Report:

After the 5+” of rain fell during/after hurricane Arthur, another 1” of rain fell early in the week which destroyed a few plantings. Spinach, turnips, beets and red radishes are among the casualties. The week turned out to be the typical hot/humid summertime weather.

Animal report:

The rabbits are all over the place and fortunately are not eating very much. A new crop of baby deer was sighted and a groundhog decided to move under the deck of our “little rock house” across the street. Farmer Rich sighted a hummingbird hovering over the elephant garlic flowers but it took off by the time he was ready to shoot a photo.

WorkDayClipTrip to the Farm – Saturday – July 26th – we are planning on having a trip to the farm to those CSA members who would like to drive up and help with a few projects. More details will follow over the next few weeks.
Save the date!

 

 

July 14th  - 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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