Hey Folks:
The first week of delivery for all shares has arrived. A reunion of sorts, as I have not seen many
of you since last fall. Good to know
that you have been able to sustain yourselves on groceries for the past few
months.
Many folks have asked about the weather and its effect
on the farm. As always, my answer is
that the weather only effects my choice of activity at the farm. When the weather is dry, I water the crops
more; and when the weather is wet, I remove more weeds. I suspect that the amount of effort is the
same no matter what the weather (like a physics problem – the amount of energy
in a system never changes, it simply changes form).
The consistent rain has a by-product that I need very
much: nitrogen for compost. The rain
this spring has encouraged strong weed growth – so I have pulled plenty of weeds
from the beds, and collected lots of grass clippings from mowing the
paths. This nitrogen harvest of green
leaves is a key component of the compost.
I have probably applied as much nitrogen to the compost in the past
month as I did for half of last season.
This can only mean that the soil health will continue to improve next
year as I expand the crop growing area at Whitsend
Other things I have observed this year so far: Mice.
They are all over the place - in the barn, in the field, sometimes
scampering out from under foot. If anyone
has a hungry (or bored) cat they want to loan, I can make much use of it…Mice are
probably the most damaging pest at Whitsend, having destroyed a significant portion
of the potatoes last year, disrupting seed trays in the nursery, and generally
causing me headaches because I sterilize everything that I think they may have
got their paws into.
By the way, if any of you are interested in treating
your cat, I have organic catnip available for anyone who wants it.
Several successes so far – 2/3 of the Parsnips have
germinated. I have figured out how to
keep the Cress fresh and healthy even on the hot days. The Potato beetles have been kept at bay, and
the Leek moths have yet to show any signs of their presence in the onion family
crops, due to careful use of the row covers.
I did a test pull of carrots over the past two weeks. They are starting to size up; I expect they
will be in your basket in two weeks. The
Peas are in full bloom, and I expect to harvest them for full shares next week,
with all shares receiving them the week after.
The Lettuce is finally starting to show signs of growth
(as is the Chicory). The Second round of
beets has successfully germinated after the first round had a 90% failure
rate. Not sure why, may have been left a
little too long between watering. I was
aware that the sugar beet harvest in England has failed this year, and wondered
if there was some connection.
I will have more to write soon, but dinner is ready, so
now it is my turn to do some eating…
Bob
A couple of notes about the produce this week:
Garlic sprouts can be eaten raw (topping for a salad), or sprinkled into soup or stew. Leaves, stems, and bulb are all edible. The flavour is strong.
Purple Osaka is a mustard green. It is quite hot, but moderates when added to other leaves or incorporated into a sandwich.