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
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