Good morning! CSA Harvest is complete a day early this week (due to the holiday) and we'll be headed to Telluride here shortly. But first... here's a quick farm update.
Last week was HOT. Wowza. There were several days in the mid 90s, and it was challenging to stay hydrated. But, we're currently back in the mid 80s at the farm, and it feels good. We're hoping the hottest days of the year are now past us and that July will bring some monsoonal rain to the region! The weather forecast currently looks hopeful starting on Friday. Fingers crossed. Come on rain, we miss you!
Cover crop of oats
I headed to Ridgway after the Telluride CSA Pickup last week and spent Thursday shopping for a cargo van with my Dad. He used to be a mechanic and is my favorite person to car shop with. He knows all the right questions and things to look for. It was fun to spend the day together AND we found a great van that is now part of the Mountain Roots Produce fleet! This should make the trip to Telluride every week so much easier and we'll be able to haul quite a bit more produce. Wahoo!
Onions are looking happy!
I love walking through the farm after I have been away for a day or two. I'm always amazed at how quickly plants grow this time of year. The cover crop of oats is filling in and looking great. The onions are weeded and look healthy. The kohlrabi is beginning to fatten up and the eggplants just started to bloom. Must be July!
I harvested the first teaser of cherry tomatoes on June 24th... a solid two to three weeks ahead of schedule! I'm not too surprised considering how warm and sunny it has been since we planted them in early May, but still, tomatoes ripening in June at our farm is not a normal thing. Anyhow, the tomatoes are currently loading up with fruit and I'm hoping we'll start to have cherry tomatoes for you all in a couple weeks?!
Mike has been busy with irrigation and tractor work as well as building out our new wash/pack station in the steel building that we built last Summer/Fall. I'm excited to report that it's up and running. We packed out this week's harvest in the new building and it felt great for many reasons, but the concrete floor that drains beautifully might be at the top of the list.
Mike Nolan is the president of the Four Corners Farmers and Ranchers Coalition, a joint chapter of Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and National Young Farmers Coalition. Click on the link below to read about an idea Mike and a friend, Alex Funk, came up with over beers in San Diego in 2016 that has now made it into the Senate Farm Bill.
Potatoes are blooming!
We have garlic harvest on the schedule for July 4th and then I'm excited to spend a few days catching up on the weeds (the greenhouses are a little out of control!), spending a little quality time with the tomatoes (aka pruning) and seeding the next succession of greens. One day at a time.
Look forward to seeing you all soon!