rain dance

regular watering of the fall seed beds

 In many ways it's hard to complain about such an extended string of cloudless days. The weather is well-suited to summer recreation fun.  The excessive heat coupled with the lack of moisture is shaping this growing season to be more challenging than any in recent years.  In some ways we're quite fortunate, as the various gardens have different water sources (river, pond, well).  This is not the case for many local growers.  Anxiety is high and many folks are worried if it keeps on like this.  The especially warm spring paired with this arid summer has us scrambling to keep crops irrigated.  It's added 20+ hours of weekly labor to our full schedules.The light-bodied nature of some our our fields has meant much time maintaining moisture in the fall seed beds. We're still waiting for an opportunity to transplant the fall cabbages and kales. We'd settle for a mostly cloudy day.  Time will tell what this means regarding yields in relation to our pre-season projections.  While many crops are doing well to average, the peppers and eggplant are growing slowly.  The winter squash is also behind schedule. On a positive note, the garlic looks great and will finish early.  The onions are our best in years (yes!) and the tomatoes and beans are right around the corner.  The weather impacts every crop in one way or another.  We're  fully  committed to keeping the gardens as hydrated as possible. 

Any time folks have to put towards the more detailed oriented tasks like thinning carrots would be good.  We're out at 8a on the weekdays, 'til high heat set in.  We break in the mid-afternoon and are back in the fields for the evening.  You can e-mail to let us know, or just come out if you've got a free slot.

Let's hope the new norm is not strings of floods and droughts.  
best,
bob and flip   

first tomatoes come trickling in, more waiting for the main crop