Hey Y'all, Your farmers are working hard these days planting, weeding, harvesting, fixing, watering, etc. June is a crazy time on a vegetable farm, literally you are doing everything at once and at full speed not to mention there is a zillion hours of daylight. We are finishing up the summer transplanting, with only sweet potatoes left to go in at the new farm. Yesterday we and our great working members planted all the field tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, paste tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. As we finish these plantings we turn our attention to nurturing all these little plants and we sharpen our hoes and get ready for the battle to begin. As spring turns towards summer and we have more heat and light the weed pressure really starts to take off and if we turn our head just for a bit we and the crops can be over come. We have a myriad of ways to control weeds but I always say that an organic farm uses brains, hands, sweat, and steel to control weeds instead of just poisonous herbicides and fumigants.  This year we have added to our cultivation arsenal a tractor tool bar that allows us to weed aisle ways mechanically and a backpack flame weeder which allows us to burn weeds down in areas that are fallow but to be planted sooner than a cover crop can get established. Weeding gives us hope and is incredibly satisfying work as well. If we do our jobs well and diligently in the first few years that weed pressure begins to drop off dramatically, which is something to look forward to. But not to worry, June will still be the same, because just when you get to that point where the weeding gets easy you end up opening up some new ground to keep ya busy. I wanted to pass along a great interview I heard in the truck the other day as I drove to get more transplants from the greenhouse to plant. It is an interview with Chef Dan Barber, give it a listen! We will be at Drake Market this weekend with various spring greens, radishes, and veggie starts! The Market CSA starts this saturday and will be at Beavers Market Starting Weds June 1st! See you at market! Nic |