A warm September

September 12, 2019 Market newsletters, Weekly Updates

Well, it doesn’t really feel like the seasons are changing anymore. As I’m writing this on Wednesday, it’s in the mid- to upper-90s outside and we’re running around trying to keep all of the cool-weather fall crops happy. Not only is it excessively hot (and has been and looks like it’s going to continue to be next week), but it has also been an extremely dry September thus far. We’ve only gotten a third of an inch of rain so far this month, which sure doesn’t help keep the fall crops happy in these temperatures. While the weather has had a negative affect on some crops, notably head lettuce and...

Changing seasons

September 5, 2019 Market newsletters, Weekly Updates

September is one of my favorite times on the farm. The weather is starting to cool down and the workload is getting ever so slightly less overwhelming. During the height of summer, we have multiple crops, including tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, and zucchini, that have to be harvested many times each week. They are harvested so heavily for several reasons. First of all, each of the crops grow fast enough that if left to harvest only once a week, there would be tons that were oversized and thus unsellable. Additionally, harvesting these plants regularly tells them to keep producing more, therefore enabling us to get the most out of each bed....

Multi-colored

August 29, 2019 Market newsletters, Weekly Updates

One of the wonderful things about shopping at farmers markets is the availability of items that you wouldn’t be able to find at a typical grocery stores. Purple heirloom pole beans and Brazilian broccoli, for instance, are two of my favorite crops both for their productivity and taste, but you’d be hard pressed to find either at the store. This week, we’ll have two other items that fall outside of the typical. Potatoes come in many varieties and this year we grew three- one early, one mid-, and one later season variety allowing us to extend the harvest for as long as possible. We are coming to the end of...

Pest management

June 13, 2019 Market newsletters, Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

You may have seen our recent post on Instagram and Facebook about pest management. I get a lot of questions at markets about this, so decided to share a video of one of our primary methods of pest control- physically going from plant to plant looking for and smashing problem bugs! But in fact, this technique only comes into play later (hence my reference to it as “remedial pest control” in the post’s comments). Preventative management is actually the biggest tool we have to combat pests. This means that we take measures to prevent or delay the impact of pests before they even show up or become a problem. Row...

First market 2019!

April 11, 2019 Market newsletters, Weekly Updates

Welcome to the 2019 season! We’re excited for the first Burke farmers market this coming Saturday, April 13! It’s been a strange spring on the farm. We started off with some incredibly cold weather when we were first planting in our hoop house which slowed germination and initial growth of most of the early plantings. And now we’re at the other extreme, with very warm, sunny, and sometimes even humid days that feel more like early summer than early spring. Fortunately, with our first season now behind us, our operations on the farm are a little more streamlined. Last year at this time, we were still in the process of...

Nearing the end

November 29, 2018 Market newsletters, Weekly Updates

After a long season of hard work, it’s difficult to believe that we only have two farmers markets left this year! With a heavy freeze last week on Thanksgiving night and temperatures dipping into the mid-teens, almost all of our harvest at this point is from inside of our hoop house, but there is still plenty growing in there! (See below for our full harvest list.) With most of the outdoor beds now done for the season, we’re moving on to mowing those down and putting in the last bit of cover crop. While we might not get much early winter growth off of the cover crop at this point...

Full circle

November 8, 2018 Market newsletters, Weekly Updates

As we move into the fall, it’s really starting to feel like we’ve completed a full year on the farm. For most of the last year, everything we’ve done has been done for the first time on this farm, but over the last few weeks, we’ve started cycling back through tasks we completed at this time last year. Just like last year, we’ve been seeding cover crop to protect beds and preserve soil over the winter. We’ve also covered a large section of beds with a thick silage tarp which will not only protect the beds over winter, but also allow us to get into these beds for the earliest...

Certified!

March 29, 2018 Weekly Updates

It’s been an exciting week for us, even while we’re still waiting for all of the snow to melt! Over the weekend, we made our first sale- several pounds of arugula to the Community Garden Market, a natural foods store in nearby Shepherdstown. And at the end of this week, we’ll be selling lettuce mix to the same store. I also harvested several pounds of baby kale from the hoop house, but elected to keep that for our own use, as well as giving away a few bags to neighbors. It’s been great to have fresh, home-grown greens on hand again! In addition, we are now officially Certified Organic and have...

Two Feet in the Dirt

gardening