Two Feet in the Dirt

Apparently this year, when it rains, it pours. After several weeks of bone-dry weather, we’re getting inundated with multiple days of constant, heavy rainstorms reminiscent of those in May. Excessive rain creates a variety of challenges on the farm. With the soil saturated, it makes it a challenge to prepare beds for planting, which can push back our planned planting, and thus harvest, dates. Additionally, too much rain can cause a variety of issues in the plants that are already growing in the ground. At this time of year, particular culprits are the tomato plants. Tomato plants are particularly susceptible to fungal diseases and a general rule of thumb is not to touch wet tomato plants, as this can easily spread diseases from one plant to another. However, tomatoes must be harvested every two to three days. Additionally, tomatoes are such delicate fruit that too much rain causes them to split easily. This combination of factors puts us in a tough situation when we experience consistently wet weather like we’ve had this week, forcing us to make a decision of either sticking to a regular harvest schedule and potentially spreading diseases amongst the plants or losing a large number of tomatoes to splitting by opting not to harvest in the rain. Usually, I end up just going ahead and harvesting and hoping for the best.

Either way, we’ll have a wide selection of crops at market this weekend. Check out our full harvest list below and we’ll see you there!

Stay dry!

Farmers Katie & Mike

This week at the market:

• Eggplant
• Sweet peppers
• Jalapeno peppers
• String beans
• Salad mix
• Garlic
• Onions
• Poatotes
• Carrots
• Beets
• Curly Kale (large leaf)
• Rainbow chard
• Slicing tomatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Summer Squash
• Basil