Two Feet in the Dirt

As I mentioned last week, the weather has been more than unpredictable recently. Apparently, this has been the coldest start to May in over a century! This past weekend, we got two heavy freezes, with temperatures dropping into the mid-to-upper 20s in combination with winds gusting over 30 mph. Even though all of the crops that are planted outside right now are cold-hardy, this combination of excessively cold temperatures and high winds caused damage in ways that surprised even us. Kale is generally considered one of the most cold-hardy crops, but sustained extensive leaf damage. Having sufficient water is essential to many of these crops in protecting themselves in freezing temperatures and, while we had had more than enough rain over the last few weeks, the high winds had such a drying effect that exterior leaves were clearly not able to maintain necessary levels of moisture and sustained an unusual amount of freeze damage. All of the crops that were still under row cover were okay, as they were largely protected from the effects of the wind, but the kale and collards are way too big to fit under row cover at this point, so we just had to take our chances. 

The other biggest damage was to the radish tops in one bed where I had decided to remove the row cover to try to decrease intense slug pressure. While row cover helps protect plants from the cold, it also creates a higher-humidity environment that is unsurprisingly a perfect habitat for slugs. It’s definitely frustrating to make a decision to prevent one problem to a crop and have that decision result in another issue. If nothing else, farming definitely can put you between a rock and a hard place at nearly every turn.

As a result, we may be seeing a temporary decrease in harvest numbers this week. However, we expect this should bounce right back up in the next week or so (barring more crazy weather). The cold also means that many crops we are usually already harvesting at this time of year are way behind where they generally are. The kohlrabi and Swiss chard both seem to be growing by millimeters each week and we’re hoping they’ll be ready to harvest sooner rather than later. 

Thank you again for all of your support this year. We will be opening the online store at noon on Thursday!

Farmers Katie & Mike

Harvest List:

• Hearty winter mix
• Spinach
• Lettuce salad mix
• Lettuce heads
• Arugula
• Radishes
• Hakurei turnips
• Red Russian kale
• Lacinato kale
• Curly green kale