Spring 2009 CSA

Newsletter May 15, 2009

Here at the farm we are optimistic that we are finally finding some sort of cadence to the weekly harvesting, washing, bunching, packing and delivering for our first ever CSA program. While I know that we still have hurdles to overcome, I think we are improving on the mechanical side of packaging and delivery. This having been said, growing almost six acres of vegetables has proven to be very demanding for those of us used to greenhouse production. Seems like the weeks are running together now as Sunday goes to Monday

Field Update

The cauliflower, beets and broccoli are finished and tilled under to make room for new planting beds. The first wave of tomatoes seems to be doing okay, but require plenty of irrigation. Down at the lease, we have a second leg of tomatoes that are about 20” tall and appear to be in good shape, but need staking. We realize that everyone is waiting for the tomato harvest to begin, so please hang in there. In the past tomatoes seem to peak around here near the July 4th timeframe, so we should have plenty of time. This summer we are going to try and plant a crop of cherry tomatoes in an attempt to have that tomato flavor “hang around” through August. I think the deer have taken a liking to zucchini blossoms as today I noticed deer tracks between our zucchini and squash beds. (Few blossoms and almost no zucchini on about 450 healthy plants.) No blossoms means no zucchini. (Any bow hunters out there?) Hopefully putting up a temporary deer fence will deter them for a while. The warmer weather seems to have helped the cantaloupe. No fruit yet, but lots of flowers. We may have two more weeks of carrots. More potatoes are ready to be harvested this week, (hopefully before the forecast thunderstorms on Sunday.) More onions and kale in store this week. The lettuce house is undergoing an infestation of wild purslane. This herb grows faster than lettuce and the bugs love it. We are trying to deal with it by hand weeding. Hopefully we’ll have it under control in a week or so. In the interim, we may have baby arugula as an alternative.

Our friend Nick and our driver Jose, will man our booth at the Bayou City Farmer’s Market, tomorrow Saturday May 16th,. They will have our normal coolers of greens and prepared food items. I’ll be around the farm probably digging potatoes or staking tomatoes.

Until next time,