The Tomatoes are going strong this week. they are still fighting Septoria leaf Spot which has been a difficult one this year. The Peppers are also doing well. The Cubanella Fry Peppers especially. The specialty Red peppers are starting to turn also. I find I am very impatient and want to pick them too soon.
The Pole beans are dynamite!!! The are so easy to pick too. My problem is I want to eat them as i pick them and if I don't control myself then there would be less for you the shareholder.
I am still trying to get the lettuce planting down. In past years I have not had a problem but this year I don't know if it is me or the hot then cool fluctuating weather. It is probably me but I would like to think it is the weather.
Hearing horrible things about the hurricane that is heading our way. We will be taking down the cover to the Harvest Pavilion so it doesn't blow away. There is always something to do here on the farm.

Looking forward to seeing you today.

Nancy

What a busy week. We went to the NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Assoc.) Summer Conference at U. Mass in Amherst for the weekend. It was great. Learned a lot about Blueberries and how to expand the Blueberry patch for next year, different pruning techniques for the Currents, Heritage layer chickens that are a happier and being free range and do not have a pile up tendency that the Rhode Island Reds do, how to use cover cropping to keep the soil more fertilize for the winter and heirloom potatoes. We had wonderful food met and networked with great people and now came back with renewed energy to finish the growing season.
The Crops are doing well. The latest problem is the Zucchini (Green) squash has Plectosporium blight. This is a soil born blight and is brought on by cool wet conditions. When I came how to the Sunday and Monday rain I saw the effects of the blight.:(. The good news is I caught the Woodchuck that had been devouring the Broccoli. so now I have to wait and see how much real damage was done and whether there is anything to be saved.
This week will be the week of tomatoes. Please come prepared to carry tomatoes home and along with it peppers, and at least one eggplant. There will be pick your own cherry tomatoes till they are gone. The rains have caused the cherry tomatoes and the Amish Paste tomatoes to split. There is nothing I can do about that. In a lot of discussions at the NOFA conference the topic of extreme climate changes was talked about and how this effects crops and our work on the farm. The pole beans are ready so that will be a nice new veggie for you this week.
The celery got hit with a fungal disease Colletotrichum acutatur which cause curling of the leaves. I am harvesting it and sorting through to save the good stalks so you will get a little celery in the share this week. This disease is dispersed through the seeds so I have contacted my seed supplier to let them know about the problem. hopefully it will be corrected for next years season.
Looking forward to seeing you this week
Nancy

CSA Pick Up Aug 11

The tomatoes are finally ripening. YEA!!!! This week the cherry tomatoes will be PYO (Pick your Own) so allow some time to pick when you come for pick up. The egg plant is finally ripe too so each of you will get an egg plant. Everything else is pretty much the same - Greens, Squash, Carrots, Peppers and Basil with a few Shallots.
This blog needs to be short because I have to get to the garden and harvest. Normally, I write it on Wednesday night but because of Blogger doing Maintnenance on the site I had to wait till this morning.
Tomorrow we are headed to the NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) Summer Conference in Amherst, Mass. It is such a wonderful conference. http://www.nofasummerconference.org/ Check out the web site. It is a great time for networking with other organic farmers and suppliers, hearing lots of Seminars and eating wonderful organic food. I will share more about the conference in another blogg. Now off to harvesting.

See you at 4:00pm

CSA Pick Up Aug 4

This week has been a good week. The only frustrating thing is the Green Beans all came ready to pick at once so what was suppose to be a 2 week pick up will be just one week. So the half share CSA members that it is their week not to pick up will need to stop by and get there green beans this week. I hope it works out. This is the first time this has happened. I have a lot more green beans planted for a later rotation so there will be more to come. The peppers are getting bigger and the Cubanella fry peppers are really doing great. The Egg Plant are forming up nicely. I hope next week it will be ready to pick.

The tomatoes, you ask How are they doing? I have learned a lot about when to pick tomatoes. It is good to pick them when they start turning red. The whole idea of vine ripening makes the juiciest tomatoes is not true. Once the tomato has started to turn the phloem in the cells closes off and no more nutrients go into the tomato. By picking them when they are pink I can have them ripen in the safety of the kitchen so the Chipmunks and mice don't get to them. It also helps stop me missing tomatoes that are too ripe on the vine and start to rot. I have some pink tomatoes in the kitchen now and next week there should be some in the share for pick up.

Looking forward to seeing you.

Nancy