Red Crisphead Lettuce, after an evening of rain
Good morning,
I hope you're having a wonderful week and enjoying the Summer days! We fell asleep to rain at the farm on Sunday night, and I woke up early on Monday to find the farm soaked. So I threw on the muck boots and walked around the fields. Everything looked so incredible and healthy... I am continually amazed at how beautiful and resilient plants are, and just how quickly the vegetables size up and need harvested this time of the year. It's like magic.
Brassica block looking extra happy, they're loving the clouds and cooler temps
We have been harvesting broccoli for a few weeks and are anxiously awaiting for the cauliflower heads to form. The plants are huge and the leaves are all twisting near the center to protect and cover the head as it grows. I'm hoping they'll make an appearance in the next couple weeks...
Steel building construction has begun!
Mike and a couple of our friends started constructing the new steel building on Saturday! The columns are up and we're starting to get a sense of the space now. I'm am so excited!! My Dad is going to come down over the weekend and we're renting a fork lift. The plan is to get the rafters and purlins up and then continue to take it one step at a time until it's finished. This building will house our farm office, and new produce wash/pack/storage area.
The Sorghum Sudangrass is just about to swallow the side roll
Cover crops are so awesome! We have several different trials and mixes growing at the farm this year, each very different and interesting to observe. The sorghum sudangrass grows incredibly fast, I think it's as tall as me in parts of the field now and I love listening to it when the wind blows.
We have a beautiful flowering cover crop mix growing in strips in between the cabbage blocks and it is AMAZING. This is a mix from our friends and mentors, Brendon and Sheldon Rockey, who grow certified potato seed in the San Luis Valley, (check them out!). We planted this flowering mix in strips where the side roll wheels would hit when we moved the irrigation line through the field with the hopes that it would bring in a lot of beneficial insects. What we didn't know would happen... is that the cabbage moths (which can cause a lot of damage in the cabbages) would love the cover crop mix so much that they would almost ignore the cabbage completely! When we look out at the cabbage field there isn't a moth to be seen, but if you look close you'll notice they're there but just hanging out in the cover crop. They're more excited about something growing in these flowering strips than the cabbages. Mind blown and such a sweet discovery! So, we're going to make this flowering mix a permanent part of the crop plan moving forward.
Come on tomatoes... ripen, we have been so patiently awaiting your arrival
We're really excited about the bounty in the CSA Share this week. So much so that I lost count how many times Sadie and I said the word beautiful in the wash shed yesterday afternoon!
CSA Harvest - Week #10: Arugula, Crisphead Lettuce, Kale, Chard, Green Beans, Zucchini, Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Carrots, Shishito Peppers, Broccoli Florets, and Purple Scallions.