Farm Newsletter - June 17th

What a beautiful day! The sun is shining, the sky is bright blue, the clouds are rolling by. Today we planted beets and scallions, set up irrigation for the beets and scallions, trellised and pruned the tomatoes and cucumbers in the high tunnel, laid down landscape fabric in between beds of peppers and tomatoes as weed suppression, and packed 200 bags of fresh local vegetables for a new satellite vegetable distribution site we started up this year. All that before 12pm!

This week was a whirlwind of activity. We’re working through the kinks of our new packing system to fulfill customized CSA orders, trying out new methods and different systems. We think we’re getting a bit closer to having it dialed in. Thank you for your patience as we get it all figured out!

This has been the most amazing year yet for broccoli. I mean, those things are humongous! We’ve never had such big, beautiful broccoli! The broccoli is doing so well because the soil is healthy from all the great cover crops planted over the winter, which was then incorporated into the soil, as well as being fed a concoction called “compost tea” that is super rich in nutrients. The compost tea is fertigated into the fields (sent into the irrigation system and dispersed into the soil as the field is watered). Broccoli is a “heavy feeder” crop, which means it eats up a lot of nutrients in the soil. With the added compost tea, broccoli can get enough nutrients to create beautiful crowns.

The newest addition to our harvest list next week will be fennel. Fennel is started to bulb up and is splaying its fronds into the sunshine. We’ll harvest some a little early this year, to get the fennel bulbs when they’re a bit sweeter. The cauliflower is coming in strong, too. Have you noticed how the cauliflower has purple shading underneath the crown? So cool!

We’re nearing the end of the garlic scape season, so grab them while you can. You can throw whole garlic scapes on the grill, or chop up as a substitute for garlic, and cut into 1-inch sections and roast with your broccoli. If especially ambitious, you could use garlic scapes to make a delicious pesto!