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Winter Update

February 21, 2019 By Megan Allen

Except for a week in November and a week in January, we have had quite a warm winter, a very wet warm winter. It has been great growing weather, the type of weather we wish we had in the spring and fall, the type of weather that we have, in general, lost. We stopped harvesting and delivering shares in mid-January. It is a decision we have to make every winter, the result not of an inability to grow through that time, but instead, not enough human hours between Lalo and I to continue doing it and getting ready for the spring season and catching up on mountains of paperwork that get put off all season. It is one of the many farm-labor-economy conundrums that keeps local, organic food out of the supply chain. It is something that really frustrates me, and something we continue to try to solve. In fact, we still have plenty of food in our fields (kale, collards, chard, spinach, lettuce, bok choy and other Asian mustards, sprouting broccoli, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, and Jerusalem artichokes, not to mention hundreds of pounds of winter squash in our basement). Some of our winter CSA members have picked veggies weekly, taking advantage of the bounty. The rest of it has fed us and our animals. Much of it, in the end, will be donated or just get tilled in, as we begin planting for our April harvests.

Various heirloom radicchio harvested in January

A bunch of spouting broccoli, which is still producing heads in late February

Filderkraut cabbage, which are very winer hardy

Despite the winter veggies still left in the fields, we have turned all of our attention to the spring harvest. The greenhouse is full of transplants. Many of which we will transplant out as soon as there is a dry window. We have begun seeding in the fields (carrots, peas, and spinach). And our van is full of seed potatoes from New Sprouts in NC, ready to be planted. We continue seeding every week; we are now seeding summer crops like bell peppers and tomatoes. When we can’t get a tractor on the fields, we are doing odd jobs around the farm like fixing fences and tractor maintenance that we only get to this time of year and putting together paperwork for our annual organic inspection, taxes, and grant reports.

Summer Harvesting

June 27, 2018 By Megan Allen

This week on the farm: the much needed rain came! Although rain creates the opportunity for disease, all of the plants look much better this week. The cucurbits (squash, zucchini, winter squash, cucumbers, cantaloupes, and watermelon), in particular, seem much less stressed.

Evan Shea, Eila, and I are on hand-pollination duty this week, hand-pollinating a couple varieties of winter squash that are part of our larger trial. We do this in order to ensure true seed. This season is the second grow out of the variety we bred, and it has produced some interesting results. Its productivity and disease-resistance seem fairly uniform, while squash shape and days to maturity are quite variable. We will see about taste and storage capability. It will likely take us many more seasons to narrow in on a specific shape (squatty butternut is the goal!).

Jessica and Anna Laura are busy with field maintenance: thinning, staking, and trellising.

Lalo is spending a lot of time on the tractor: prepping fields for cover cropping, seeding cover crops, and mowing spring cover crops. We had a great meeting with two soil scientists from NRCS this morning about cover cropping, animal rotation, decreased tillage, and soil health. My summary would be: we are doing a whole lot right, but we still have too much bare soil (in between rows and even in our cover cropped fields). They really encouraged us to further increase intercropping and to further decrease tillage. We agree with both recommendations but feel limited by labor and implement-cost factors.

Everyone is busy harvesting! Summer crops (unlike spring, fall, and winter crops) have very small harvest windows (usually 1-2 days), so we have to harvest much more frequently this time of year.

This week’s share: scallions, onions, leeks, garlic, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, squash, cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, choice of jalapeno or banana pepper, and an herb. There are several other crops that are just starting to come in and may be swap options or in Sustaining Member bins: eggplant, other peppers, tomatillos, and okra. Cantaloupe melons and sweet corn are a couple of weeks away.

Garlic and potatoes may be stored in the pantry now. If potatoes are stored above 50 degrees, they will sprout, so if you aren’t going to use them quickly, I would still store them in the fridge. Tomatoes are best stored on the counter. Store stem end up to keep them from going bad without you noticing! We pick tomatoes a day away from fully ripe, so unlike store-bought tomatoes (which are picked green and gassed), they will not last long. You can store in the refrigerator to keep them from going bad, but it will change their taste and texture. If you have too many but don’t have time to do anything about them, I encourage you, instead, to wash them, place them whole in freezer bags, and freeze. You can then use them later for making stewed tomatoes or tomato sauce. Store squash, cucumbers, green beans, and peppers loosely bagged in the warmest part of your fridge. They would prefer it about 50 degrees. If you leave green beans in the bag that we hand them out in, I suggest cutting a corner to prevent them from molding.

Here are some yummy summer squash/zucchini recipes: https://www.thekitchn.com/summer-squash-15-recipes-for-z-120015

Weekly Post: Heat Stress

June 21, 2018 By Megan Allen

It is hot and dry, which creates adverse conditions for farming. Although these temperatures will not drastically reduce our overall production (it isn’t hot enough for that), the heat does clearly lower transplant survival rates and increase transplant shock (it takes plants longer to recover from transplant and begin growing again). This is why farms south of us stop growing during the summer months, growing what we think of as summer crops in the spring and fall, and what gives Northern California, Oregon, and Washington such agricultural advantages, as their temperatures often stay below 90, although last year was an exception in California. We are stuck in the middle geographically, so we have to grow summer crops in the summer, in between first and last frost dates. It also means lots of irrigation. (These effects are compounded by dry soil.)

The heat is also hard on animals. During the summer, we increase animal watering, provide shade, add a swimming pool to the chicken area, and try to move them more often so that they are not stressed by reduced grass/feed palatability. Right now, we have the sheep down in our lowest field, where it is cooler and there is some shade, and our chickens are in an area with mature oats, so there is plenty to eat.

Hopefully, for all of us, it will rain this afternoon or tomorrow, and temperatures will be lower.

So, onto your bin this week, bins will contain: carrots (in greater quantity as their quality passes quickly in the heat), beets (may be last week, some yellow beets this week), onions, leeks, scallions, garlic (now dry), green cabbage (last week), summer squash and zucchini, green beans (our second succession will be ready Friday…this first succession has just never taken off), cucumbers, potatoes, and choice of herb. Sustaining Members Wednesday will receive tomatoes. There may be enough for everyone by Friday, would think definitely by next week. Peppers and eggplant are about 2 weeks away. Lalo is mowing down the kale as I type. We do that to prevent Harlequin bug infestation, but I also think kale just isn’t very good once it gets hot.

Recipe ideas:

Beet recipes:

https://greatist.com/eat/beet-recipes-that-arent-just-salads

(The smoothie in this list is really good!)

http://www.pbs.org/food/kitchen-vignettes/lentils-with-roasted-beets-and-carrots/

https://www.thekitchn.com/breakfast-lunch-and-dinner-10-beautiful-beet-recipes-171053

Eggs: The hens are laying less right now. We always see lower laying during the longest days of the summer, but it is mostly because of the heat. We will limit egg purchases to one dozen until laying increases again.

Allium Harvests

June 13, 2018 By Megan Allen

This is the season for alliums: scallions, onions, leeks, and garlic. Their spring season is actually quite short, as they are negatively affected by heat, humidity, and long days, but thankfully, once cured, garlic and onions will store for several months. We grow mostly sweet onions, which store about 3 months (usually until September), although we are growing two longer-storing onions this season (about 6 months). We grow several types of garlic, some which only store until September or October and some which store until the new year.

We have also begun harvesting red potatoes. So far, the yields are very low, the lowest they have been in several seasons. They appear to be affected by Tobacco Necrosis Virus, which is a soil-born fungus. This is the first time we have planted potatoes in this field. We have not checked other varieties, yet. I am hoping they look better. May was very warm for potatoes, which would have reduced yields and increased soil-fungi activity. We will still have potatoes, but in less quantity than last season.

Tomato watch has begun! Our Principe Borghese tomatoes (which we use for drying) are beginning to ripen. They are a small tomato, but I still expect ripe slicers/beefsteaks in the next 10 days.

This week’s share will include: sweet onions (bulb onions), leeks, scallions, green garlic (almost cured), red potatoes, green cabbage, kale, lettuce, beets, carrots, choice of herb, and choice of green beans, squash/zucchini, or cucumbers. We should have green beans, squash/zucchini, and cucumbers in large quantity in the next week.

Most of the veggies in this week’s share are probably fairly familiar to you. I do get recipe requests at times for green cabbage. I like it in curtido (recipe follows), Asian-style soups, and egg rolls. Here are several ideas: https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/ingredients/slideshow/cabbage-recipes

In terms of storage, onions, leeks, scallions, green garlic, and potatoes are still best stored in the fridge in loose bags. Green cabbage, kale, and beets as well. Carrots and lettuce are the most sensitive to air-exposure, so they may do best stored in a Ziplock, just watch moisture levels because too much humidity will cause them to spoil. Green beans, squash/zucchini, and cucumbers (as well as other summer fruits and veggies) are cold-sensitive. Store them in loose plastic bags in the warmest part of your fridge. Please remember the fridge is too cold for basil. Store on your counter-top like flowers and change water often.

Around the Farm in Pictures

June 11, 2018 By Megan Allen

Around the farm this week in pictures:

Green cabbage harvest: the green cabbage benefitted from the cooler, wetter April we had. May was quite hot, and it is beginning to dry out, so we harvested the cabbages that were left in the field and have stored them in our walk-in cooler.

Our experimental winter squash field: the vines are beginning to extend themselves. In a few weeks, it will all be green!

Baby sweet potato vines beginning to “green-up” and grow out.

Moon and Stars Yellow watermelon (a regional heirloom) plants

Several fields after this morning’s rain: several seed crops to the left behind the herb garden, one of our main summer acres in middle, and a recently cover cropped field to the right (soybeans and buckwheat).

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