July 2, 2023
Heating Up
by Farmer Derek

Last week was a bit of an anomaly as we had to work around wet weather and soil. After receiving almost five inches of rain over the preceding weekend and early part of the week we had to wait until Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to get back out in the field with the tractor and resume (most) transplanting. No matter, though, because there's plenty of farm work to do that doesn't involve heavy machinery, including planting the final round of zucchini and cucumbers, tomato pruning and clipping, aisle mowing, weeding, and harvesting.

With the beans that we put in later in the week, we're now finished planting summer crops, except for a few more basil successions. Our attention now is shifting towards field prep for fall crops. As of today (Sunday) all of our fields (about 13 acres) have at least received the first step towards accepting crops, that is, opened up with the chisel plow. My goal is to begin field prep for a crop at least a month in advance so that the weather and soil creatures can mellow the soil and break down organic matter but also to get weeds to germinate and be terminated by following passes with the tractor as we make and finalize raised beds.

During this coming week we'll strive to harvest all of the spring carrots as well as the garlic. A lot of workshifts have been scheduled over the next 7 days and we'd love to have your help accomplishing these tasks. Hope to see you!