Now that we’ve passed the autumn equinox, it’s officially fall, but with a few 100+ degree days this week, it’s not quite sweater weather just yet and we haven’t slowed down. There is SO much going on right now; a full list of activities would go on for pages, especially if we included all of the many things, big and small, that go into planning and executing the Hoes Down Harvest Festival, now less than two weeks away.
[Read more…]Theme: Elaine Swiedler
News from the Farm | September 9, 2024
September 9, 2024
Whew – another week in the summer sprint done!
Some notable moments from last week included:
[Read more…]News from the Farm | August 19, 2024
August 19, 2024
Farming requires being very aware of the current conditions (weather, crops ready for harvest, etc.) all while thinking about the next day, week, month, season, and year. In August, we start pivoting to fall. We’re undeniably still in summer, even with cooler temperatures over the weekend and continuing into this week, but autumnal elements are starting to creep in. Here’re a few examples from the past week:
[Read more…]News from the Farm | July 29, 2024
July 29, 2024
July is always a very busy month, when seemingly everything is ready to harvest. Plus there’s the heat. Last week and the week before have included many long, hot days.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | July 8, 2024
July 8, 2024
I think there’s only one word to describe last week: HOT. The coolest high temperature was Monday when it still got above 100, and it only got hotter as the week went on. Being outside when it’s 110 or above feels similar to the blast of hot, dry air you get when you open the door of an oven. Except that you can’t close the oven door, and you still have to work and get things done at home (including cooking), and for us, our work is outside. 100 is a standard summer temperature for us, and it’s also fairly normal that we’ll have heat waves for a week or two (here’s a chronicle of a few past heat waves), but that doesn’t mean that it’s comfortable or easy.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | June 24, 2024
June 24, 2024
The solstice was last Thursday so now it’s officially summer. But even without looking at a calendar, we knew it – it tastes, looks, feels, and sounds, and smells like summer.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | June 10, 2024
June 10, 2024
Farming is more than a full-time job, but somehow between a busy schedule of planting, weeding, harvesting, and farmers market schedules, we host folks at the farm to enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor and to take in the sites and sounds of the season.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | May 13, 2024
May 13, 2024
Mother’s Day week has come and gone. It’s different from other weeks in May, or any other week during the year, because of the enormous number of flower orders. In total, the flower team harvested and bunched over 5,500 bouquets last week, about 3,500 mixed and 2,000 single variety. In comparison, the week before, it was 2,900 bouquets, 1,160 mixed. WOW! How’d they do it? What’re the secrets to pulling off this feat?
[Read more…]News from the Farm | April 1, 2024
April 1, 2024
News from the Farm | March 25, 2024
March 25, 2024
Happy spring! Last week, we took advantage of the warmth and sun to harvest, weed, plant, and transplant. There was also a lot of mowing (cover crops and finished crops) and prepping bed to plant more.
As promised, this Beet contains the second part of last week’s discussion (which you can find here) of hybrid versus open pollinated seeds.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | March 11, 2024
March 11, 2024
As Dru wrote last week, we’ve had a lot of grey, cold, and wet days over the past couple weeks and months. The rain has been perfectly (or rather, unfortunately) timed to come right as things just start to dry out, which gets in the way of planting and weeding that will be crucial for abundant harvests in a late spring. Plus too many grey days in a row can start to feel a bit gloomy and monotonous. Six months from now we’ll be eagerly awaiting a cloudy, rainy day but when they’re abundant, they don’t feel special.
We have had some bursts of sun and signs of spring (robins, flowering and budding fruit trees, sun). During these bursts of sunshine last week and the week before, there were some share-worthy happenings cataloged below! Though don’t let these photos fool you – these sunny days have been the exception.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | February 12, 2024
February 12, 2024
Today’s Farm News covers two small ways you can get involved to help combat food insecurity. It’s a huge, complicated problem, but that means that any measures to chip away at it are important.
First, our CSA donation program. We’ve gotten a few inquiries recently, thus wanted to explain how it currently works! On a week that you don’t want a box, you have the option to donate or skip. Skipping means we move the box to the end of your schedule, or to a date you’ve specified. When you donate your box, the value of the box (or flowers, or whatever you’ve donated) goes into our Good Food Community Fund. When it comes time to set up donation boxes, we pull from the Fund. We don’t make the box and then donate it, thus why we need as much advance notice for skips and donations. We also have a few particularly generous CSA members who make separate donation payments just to the fund.
[Read more…]News from the Farm | February 5, 2024
February 5, 2024
This time of year, late January and early February, usually ends up involving a lot of watching, waiting, and then suddenly springing into action on several fronts.
