August 18, 2019
Where's The Wet Stuff?
by Farmer Derek

An August of old is unfolding, a return of what feels and seems like a normal weather pattern for this time of year. Spotty showers, mostly missing us, more heat and plenty of humidity, perhaps a last gasp of peak summer. We continue to will ourselves away from resorting to irrigating, but once the crops appear to be thirsty and suffering slightly we'll probably give them a drink. If we do wind up irrigating this season, at least it's now when our total footprint is smaller than at peak, though there are probably more bare ground crops now and we would have to manually add drip tape to each bed rather than tractor applied drip tape when laying the plastic mulch that assists many of the summer species. Whereas most of this year and last a 20% chance of rain would result in a 100% inundation, now we're faced with the opposite. The rain does miss us, and we do miss it. Part of me wants to irrigate so I can at least forget about the weather momentarily and quit refreshing the forecast tab every 5 minutes when I'm near a computer, but on the other hand relying on Mother Nature imparts a perception of dependence on outside forces, which I guess is humbling and/or nurturing.

Either way, we march on. Last week we hauled in whatever winter squash was in good condition and hope to cure and store it temporarily in the greenhouse where it should heal and sweeten. We also continued to dig and retrieve potatoes. At this point we've harvested almost 50% of the crop and the yield looks better than our average, probably due to regular rainfall when the spuds were forming and bulking up, but hopefully also due to increased soil health and fertility.

Some summer crops have passed their peak and some are truly waning. Zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, and basil have slowed down and may disappear in a week or two. Field and heirloom tomatoes peaked and then quickly dropped but very soon our hoop tunnel crop will be yielding aplenty. Tomatoes should be in shares for a while yet. Greens like chard and kale are about to return to the pick up room. Late summer kale is a treat and for some reason almost always looks and tastes great even though it grows during the heat of summer. As of now our fall brassicas look outstanding, growing in a field that left a 3-year fallow period before last season. As long as the weather doesn't return to a too-wet phase broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc should be bountiful this fall.

The 2/10th of an inch of rain we did receive last week at least got some cover crops going as well as direct seeded arugula, hakurei turnips, watermelon radishes, and purple daikons. The fields where we sowed buckwheat and daikon a few weeks ago are in peak buckwheat bloom now. Pollinators and kids are thrilled.