Rained Out
“Sitting at the table, watching the cards being dealt, I heard a man say that the difference between an amateur and a pro is that the pro doesn't have an emotional reaction to losing anymore. It's just the other side of winning. I guess I'm a farmer now, because I'm used to loss like this, to death of all kinds, and to rot. It's just the other side of life. It is your first big horse and all he meant to you, and it is also his bones and skin breaking down in the compost pile, almost ready to be spread on the fields.” -Kristin Kimball, The Dirty Life The average monthly rain for July in New Jersey is about 5 inches. We've had 12 in the past 2 weeks. It is a rainy Summer to say the least. When the rain comes it is inches at a time, not those beautiful light rains we so love. The rains bring not just water but even more humidity to the air, which is not great for Summer crops. Our field tomatoes are really not enjoying this rain and as farmer friends tell us they have been losing their tomato crops we feel blessed that we have our high tunnels, protecting a lot of our tomatoes from the weather. The high tunnels are also protecting our baby ginger which is looking insane, smells glorious and will be here in a month! Unfortunately we lost our last squash and cucumber planting to a fungal disease. The unending rain spread the disease like wildfire through the crops and there was nothing we could do but watch them wilt and die. This is the time to capture as much of the sun's bountifulness as we possibly can. The days are slowly starting to shorten and in a little over a month we will have much cooler temperatures and much shorter days. We begin to start our days a little later as the sun isn't around at 6 am any longer. Our food for Fall and Winter has to get in the ground now or we won't have it. A struggle with all the wetness. We have learned to just accept and embrace the weeds as there is so much going on and they are out of our control at this moment. Whenever we have a break in the rain we rush to get as much planted as possible, the fields turned, beds made, crops directly seeded into the soil and then cover everything to protect it from the pesky flea beetle (among other pests) whose population numbers explode in late Summer. The main chunk of our crew is leaving in a few short weeks to go back to their school lives a lot tanner, a lot stronger, and hopefully more inspired. September is sure to be a hectic month on the farm with a much smaller crew and we are glad that a big chunk of the Fall crops will be planted before the downsize.
Early morning lettuce planting
Found wildflowers in the wash station
Queens of the farm out for an evening field walk
Our first weekend away together since we first started the farm 4 years ago
Share Options This Week Bell Peppers- 1 point/ 2 peppers Asian Eggplant- 1 point/ 3/4 pound Cherry Tomatoes- 1 point/pint Cocktail Tomatoes- 1 point/pint Shallots- 1 point/each Spring Onions- 1 point/lb Butterhead lettuce- 1 point/ each limit one Asian Greens- 1 point/bunch Potatoes- 1 point/ pound Kohlrabi- 1 point/ 1.5 pounds Parsley- 1 point/bunch Fresh Garlic- 1 point/ each Mushrooms- 1 point/pint Beets- 1 point/pound Green Cabbage- 2 points/each Tomatoes- 1 point/pound Green Beans- 2 points/quart Hot Peppers- 1 point/3 Fairytale Eggplant- 1 point/pint Carrots- 1 point/pound Radishes- 1 point/bunch
