Two Feet in the Dirt

The extremely dry weather has continued since I posted last week and at this point there seems to be no reprieve in sight. We did end up getting another 0.3 of an inch of rain last week, but that still only brings us to a grand total of under an inch of rain since the end of August. And despite how it seems, it’s actually a much larger challenge to have it so dry at this time of year as opposed to in the height of the summer. During the summer, almost everything we are growing is planted as transplants (as opposed to being seeded directly into the ground) and therefore has drip irrigation lines run on it, allowing us to provide enough water whenever necessary regardless of rainfall.

In contrast, as we move into the fall, the farm switches to relying almost entirely on direct-seeded crops, which are generally seeded too densely to run drip irrigation on and therefore rely on some source of overhead water to allow them to germinate and grow. Without any rain, the onus falls on us to make sure that these crops get enough water through either hand watering or sprinklers. As we live in a region that generally gets enough rain, it’s not really worth the expenses to put in a permanent sprinkler system, which means when we have dry weather, we need to spend time most days moving around hoses and sprinklers by hand, which can be quite a time-consuming job. As we work hard to keep the fall crops growing, we’re just hoping that next week brings us some rain.

Meanwhile, we’re in the sweet-spot of the season where the fall harvest is in full swing and the summer crops are still producing a decent amount. We’ll have an overflowing table at the market again this week and you can see our full selection below!

Farmers Katie & Mike

This week at the market:

• Cabbage
• Escarole
• Kohlrabi
• Head Lettuce
• Radishes
• Baby Kale
• Beets
• Arugula
• Salad mix
• Eggplant
• Tomatoes
• Scallions
• Kale
• Collard greens
• Onions
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Sweet peppers
• Poblano & Jalapeno peppers