We are finally getting into the main growing season with lows in the 50’s we can safely assume the cold nights are behind us. This means our second round of winter squash (first round went out too early), field tomatoes, peppers, and summer squash are very happy. We expect to have our first fruits of summer squash and strawberries in the next week! But for now, we’ve got a bountiful harvest of kale, arugula, and lettuce thriving in these final spring days. Of course, it is Baileys Harbor so our spring is a little bit longer than other areas of the peninsula and that’s just fine with us.
Winter squash planted in the clover cover crop
Summer squash blooms and fruit
The first CSA delivery went really well. We are so pleased with the drop off locations this year (we delivered door to door in our first year), it’s really giving us more valuable time spent on the farm doing what’s necessary. The extra help and the extra time spent on the farm this year is really showing, we are keeping on top of the weeds! Hooray!
We have been up to a few awesome projects this week. We visited Summerwind Alpaca Farm in Egg Harbor and helped Willy and Bernadette load up some alpaca bedding from their barn to use on our farm. We used the piles of straw to cover the soil beneath our long-term field crops like broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, kale, summer squash, and storage potatoes. The straw will not only suppress weeds but will keep the ground cooler and wetter allowing for us to water less as we go into summer. It’s fairly experimental for us but we strongly believe in keeping the soil protected with some type of cover whether it be cover crops, vegetables, straw, or tarps.
First we cultivate, then compost, then straw.
Kale after straw-ing
Our first bed turnover happened today with turnips and green onions coming out and lettuces going in. We hand weeded our rhubarb patch and we’ll mulch it tomorrow, it’s so satisfying to look at.
Transplanting lettuce
Year two: Weed rhubarb patch✔️
This weeks CSA bag:
Spinach
Arugula*
Kale
Salad radish
Salad turnips (white)*
Green onions
Spring garlic
Chive blossoms
*Salad turnips: Tender, mild turnips used for raw eating in salads or dips or many people roast them in the oven. Greens are edible.
*Arugula: Best raw in salads, mix with other greens if you don’t like the little bit of spice they have. Can also be wilted.
*Special Announcement*
We get a LOT of people wanting to come see the farm each year so we've decided to open up the farm to all our CSA and farmers market customers for one day only. We'll be doing tours every hour on the hour from 9am to 1pm on Sunday, July 3. Instead of being downtown we'll set up our booth at the farm. You'll get to see what we do up close and personal and learn about our operation. We hope to see you there!
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