Author: Michael Chase

Dear CSA members,

This is getting ridiculous, we have had to put up with sparrows, raccoons, rabbits, woodchucks and now coyotes. Last year almost our entire crop of watermelon was eaten by coyotes. The other day we noticed coyote tracks in the field and a cleanly eaten watermelon next to the driveway. We picked most of the watermelon immediately this time, so this year we have enough to go into shares. We wish there was a way to charge these animals for a share!

We continue to harvest potatoes from the field, last week we gathered over 300lbs. We still have well over 1000 feet to harvest, so we expect to have an ample supply throughout the fall. Last year we dug them by hand, this year we are using a tractor with a shovel attachment on a three point hitch. The farm tractor is so old that there is no down pressure on the hydraulic system. So we put Abby, Hadley, Narineh and anybody else we can find on the back of the hitch and drive over the hills, the potatoes come right out! Everybody has been having lots of fun with this method because it combines work with a ride.

The fall planting in nearly complete, we are down to succession planting lettuce, arugula and radishes that will continue into the fall. Garlic is the last and goes in early November. Now we only have to weed and harvest!

Dear CSA members,

The days are getting noticeably shorter and this morning almost felt like fall but we are sure to get more hot days. We have been getting enough rain so that we have hardly had to irrigate. Hadley and Abby have been hard at work getting all the fall planting done. Fields have been mowed and several cleared to cover crop for the fall.

Beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and eggplants are producing well. Peppers are coming along, but another week away from coming into higher production. Tomatoes have fruited well, but are not ripening quickly and we have suffered from some rabbit damage that has diminished initial output of low lying fruits. We have enough to put some into shares this week, but we don’t expect better output for another week or two.

The winter squash production looks really good so far, we have good fruiting on the Delicata, Acorn and Butternut squash. We are starting to harvest many of our potatoes, expect to see more of them soon.

Our kale has been struggling with flea beetles. They are the worst we have ever seen them on the farm. We are experimenting with an organic control that seems to be working. Flea beetles should start to die out soon as part of their life cycle, so we hope to have kale back in shares soon. We also have planted several other varieties under Agribon (a light weight fabric we use to exclude insects) that you will see in shares later in September. We are always experimenting and trying to learn from what nature throws at us! We trialed two varieties of lettuce that made it through the heat of July, we will put some into shares next week. It always pays in farming to try new varieties and plant diversity to buffer against variability.

We have Chimney Swifts nesting in our chimney! You can sometimes hear them chattering when you enter the barn. We have been fun watching them fly into the chimney to feed their young and when they roost for the evening. They are amazing to watch fly around the farm and are very happy that they decided to nest here.

Dear CSA members,

Too cool, too hot, too dry and too wet! It has been a crazy year. Generally we have one pattern or another, but this year it has been a little of everything. We really needed the rain, but over three inches in about three days was a lot. It has been nice to finally have “average” temperatures.

The rain allowed us to plant our some of our fall crops into the fields. It is much nicer to transplant in moist ground than dry ground. Beans, carrots, broccoli, cabbage are all planted. We still have more to do, but we should get most of it wrapped up by next week. We are also getting fields ready for cover cropping. We are already planning for next year.

The corn has been severely damaged by house sparrows and raccoons, so unfortunately we won’t have enough to put into shares this year. Last year they damaged over 1/3 of our corn crop. We also saw significant raccoon damage on the border of the cornfield this year too. We could set up an electric fence for the raccoons, but we don’t see a good solution for the house sparrows. After two years of experiencing these problems, it looks like it won’t make economic sense for us to grow corn on the farm.

We have fennel in the shares this week. It is smaller than the other variety we grow Orion, but just as tasty. Steam or roast it along with a few of the other vegetables in the share this week. We also have Peter Wilcox potatoes. They have purple skin and a yellow interior. Green peppers make their first appearance in your basket this season.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire! We are not catching any relief from the weather this year, the heat and humidity takes a toll on all at the farm. The rain of June is a memory now. The fields are very dry and we are having to water almost continuously. Small scale farming in an urban setting is costly and long dry periods can raise operating cost considerably. We use drip line and it saves on water consumption, but it still costs money for materials and labor to set up. Another factor to consider is that it generates a lot of plastic waste. No such thing as a free lunch.

Think cool thoughts!