Hello All!
I hope everyone has a chance to do something fun during this long weekend! I'll dive right into it here- we've been busy!!
As everyone knows, the weather is the biggest factor that affects our growing season of course, and unfortunately, we have no control over it. We get whatever cards we're dealt.....
This spring has been pretty great! We have gotten a little too much rain now this week but up until just a few days ago we were sitting pretty good. Now we're a little too wet but this wind and the sun will do wonders to dry out the fields!
I'm going to focus on field prep and our transplants because it's so detailed and I think it warrants some extra attention ;) Plus- we actually have time to talk about this right now! In a month, your CSA newsletter will contain a blog with stories from the farm of course, recipes to try and also lots of helpful info on your veggies!
This is black plastic mulch as they call it. We plant through the black plastic so that it naturally keeps the weeds down and it warms up the soil for the plants to get a jumpstart on the growing season. It's especially helpful with vining crops like muskmelon because, well, have you ever tried hoeing a vining crop? You're moving the plant all over the place trying not to knick it with a razor-sharp hoe. Then apply that concept to thousands of plants in a field with 300-foot-long rows lol. This black mulch saves us SO much time and energy, and it makes for healthier plants too!
*We've also seen this be helpful for grubs and I think it's because they don't like being that hot under the black mulch. So they leave our plants alone, winning!
The way we plant through the plastic is simply using a finger to poke a hole and push the plug into the hole. We always make sure not to make the holes too big or we have issues with weeds coming up through with the veggies which is no good.
The t-tape is laid at the same time as the plastic on a special piece of equipment. It's run underneath the plastic so you can't see it now, but the irrigation is already under every-single-row of mulch in the pic above!!
When we hook everything up, we can water about a dozen rows at one time (depending on how long they are). Each row here has a line of t-tape under the plastic which is hooked up to a nipple & attaches to a 1 inch water line. The larger water line is what runs to our spigots to get the water out to the fields.
That water line has breaks and different shut off valves so that we can direct the water to whatever patch needs the attention! So we can water the whole beet patch at one time, for example. We just move the water from one end of the field to the other by switching a few of the hand crank shut offs ;)
Here is the piece of equipment that lays all the black mulch and water lines. It's really not super pretty but she is efficient that's for sure!
Another reason to use the black plastic and avoid hoeing is because if you do knick one of the vining plants, or a few (which will happen- there are thousands!), it opens up the plant to disease transfer too. So just one more reason why we like the mulch.
**These are ALL kohlrabi plants! They're living outside right now which helps grow as tough plants with harder stems, so they don't get as stressed out when you bring them from the greenhouse to transplant into the fields. Transplanting is hard on these little seedlings, so this is what we call "hardening off". Even with lots of other varieties too- tomatoes, squash, peppers etc. we put all the trays outside for at least a few days to harden them off before transplanting them! Makes for healthier plants :)
THIS IS, LIKE, 5,000 TOMATO PLANTS.
We plant a lot of our vining crops on mulch because it's so hard to hoe them, but with the tomatoes we don't use the mulch.
We mean business when we're talking tomatoes! This is a big one for our farm because our CSA Members love getting them in their CSAs and then we also have the option for ordering bulk tomatoes to be delivered alongside your CSA. I set up the online store later when it's closer so I'm sure you'll hear all about this then, too. Real quick to touch on it though- we will have all the salsa fixings- tomatoes, peppers and onions will all be on the store so whenever you're ready to do some canning or freezing, you can have everything you need delivered from your local farmers!
We have grape tomatoes, romas and the traditional larger slicing tomatoes. We do have a new variety this season too- it's called San Marzano and it's an heirloom roma tomato. It's still red- but it is known for it's meaty sweetness. It is longer and more pointy than other romas. Shout out to the Ross family for the great request- we're so excited to try these. So to everyone in our CSA- let us know what you think of these special tomatoes!
HOUSEKEEPING
I am sorry I haven't finished up the handbooks yet! Honestly- we've been working around the clock and while I know you want the handbook now, it's better for me to spend time getting our crops in and then get to the handbooks when I have the time.
For our New Members- this is like the holy grail because it has every single thing you need to know about your CSA. I am hoping to get these out to you next week!! It will come as an email from me- not through the blog like this.
The handbook has topics like- the address, dates, holiday schedule, what to do if you can't pick up, and more. I strongly suggest reading through that when you get it next week because it'll help you get the most out of your CSA, too!
That'll do it for today- just wanted to check in and share what we're up to!
Eat Good & Be Well!
~The Farmer's Wife
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