July 23, 2023
Charm of the Third Try
by Farmer Derek

Finally, the 2023 garlic is out of the ground and safely hanging in the barn! Last November we planted almost 16,000 cloves which turned into bulbs for this year's harvest. We didn't harvest that many today; we distributed approximately 3,500 as green garlic in the spring and another 1,000 or so as fresh garlic the past couple of weeks. Still, it's quite an endeavor tackled by 60 folks working together. We even finished up an hour early and moved on to the onions, which are almost all out of the ground. Next big harvest task will be potatoes, probably sometime in early August. Their above ground growth dies back and their skins thicken, telling us when they're ready and storable.

The soil on the farm did not dry out enough last week so we weren't able to get any plants in the ground. We did spend a lot of time on tomato trellising (of course), harvesting crops, mowing and weed-trimming, seeding. This coming week we'll play some catch up with transplanting and ground prep, hopefully planting lettuce, cilantro, dill, celery, fennel, kale, rutabaga, chard, beets, basil, and dandelion. We also need to break out the wheel-hoes and clean up the massive broccoli/cauliflower/cabbage planting. That's all on top of the weekly seeding, harvesting, and tomato maintenance work. We've got a great crew so there's no doubt in my mind that it won't be a productive and satisfying week.