We are excited to tell you that we finally caught a rain on the farm. The storms have mostly been going around us since early July, but we got a little over an inch on Tuesday morning. There is nothing better than being able to say it rained in August!
To a certain extent, we think Ryan may have unintentionally made it rain. He and the crew loaded up a ¼ mile of pipe to lay out more irrigation. This made the hornets, who had made a home in the pipe, unhappy and ended up with two people getting stung. We had also talked about cutting hay – another activity that typically results in rain around these part (mostly because you don’t want it to rain on your cut hay)!
This rain will help us make a great pigweed broccoli and cauliflower crop. At the end of last week we were able to get in the field to do some transplanting. We put out about 8,000 broccoli and cauliflower plants for the fall. Some of this will go to grocery stores and some will make its way to you and the markets.
In the dark morning hours, when the lightning kept us from working outdoors, we were able to get into the greenhouse and clean out (get rid of) the tomato plants. About an hour later we came back in and seeded cucumbers for the fall. This is the first year we have trellised plants in the green house and we think its been going pretty well.
The rain also gave us the opportunity to finish cleaning up one of the high tunnels. When crops start to go downhill or have been harvested completely, it’s time to move on. The crew cleans up the remaining crops. We then come in and rototill the tunnel – it’s amazing how much soil compaction can occur simply from foot traffic in walking paths! The plan is to then re-plant the tunnel with orange and red beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and green beans.
We’ve spent a lot of time harvesting over the last week. The zucchini and cucumbers are coming off great, tomatoes have picked up in production, beets are looking good, and we were even able to pick 330 eggplant. We had planned to give you a five pound bag of potatoes this week, but because of the rain, we were unable to get them dug. So instead you will be getting cucumbers and zucchini to make up the difference. We promise the potatoes will be coming soon.
We are once again participating in the Seward County Fair. As in Butler County, Katie is again the superintendent in Horticulture. Hopefully, there will again be great participation.
Your Farmers,
Ryan, Katie, and Crew
WHAT’S IN THIS WEEK’S BAG?
Sweet Corn
Peppers
Zucchini
Cucumber
Tomato
Cantaloupe*
Yellow Squash**
*Only in the Full Share
**Only in the Partial Share