August 21, 2022
Getting There
by Farmer Derek

Last week we enjoyed a taste of the consistent cooler weather that is sure to come. Unfortunately that too-brief respite was followed by a return to the heat of summer. No matter, we still crushed it. We spent a lot of time harvesting, cleaning up, and transplanting. Harvesting takes up a lot more of our schedule this time of year. Cucumbers, zucchini, and melons need to be harvested three times a week, eating up a couple of hours each time. Ripening peppers are peaking, which is wonderful, and take a couple of hours on harvest days to collect. Potatoes have all been harvested, probably about 5,000 pounds worth. A big thanks to members for helping with that! With the conclusion of potatoes, it's now time to turn our attention to the thousands of pounds of pie pumpkins, butternuts, and other winter squashes that beckon our call. We'll probably begin harvesting the early varieties this week.

Even though it's been very dry, grasses and other weeds have been growing like mad, probably robbing our crops of their irrigation water. We're still playing catch up, but we made great progress last week getting the 2023 strawberries mowed and almost fully weeded. In two weeks they went from being fairly neat and tidy to an insane jungle where they were barely noticeable. Fall broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower had towering pigweed (amaranth), bind weed, and grasses in the aisles that were trying to assert their influence over the beds of crops. After weed whacking for six hours over two days the patch now is more-or-less picturesque. Still to be mowed are peppers, eggplant, and leeks, to be easily accomplished this week.

So many crops went in the ground last week; it was the final large outdoor planting and forced us to even work late on a Friday, which we strive to avoid. Red and golden beets, dinosaur/toscano/lacinato kale, lettuce, chard, arugula, napa/chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, red and purple daikons, salad and watermelon radishes, salad turnips, cilantro, and dill all went in. Satisfyingly, we're now left with only about 3,000 feet of unplanted field space, all nestled together in one location. This space will be filled over the next four weeks, then we'll begin planting inside our tunnels. It's hard to believe we're at this stage of the season already and are thankful to have made it this far with (what we think) have been nice and steady harvests and shares. Hope you've been enjoying everything!