July 24, 2007
The garlic crop is in! The garlic harvest is the first big bulk
harvest of the year and we are happy to report it is looking good and
is curing in the barn. Curing allows the papery skin around the
bulb to dry, making it ready for storage. You will probably start
seeing garlic in your share in about a month.
Have you met our newest little friends at the farm? Last week we
got 4 new baby piggies! These are the smallest guys we’ve had yet
and they are cute! They are still in the barn with the sheep
until they get a bit bigger. We’re also happy to report that our
guinea hens have successfully hatched some chicks. There are
about 15 of the little ones trailing behind their mama through out the
farm.
Speaking of animal life…. Thursday evening we had a bear in our
yard! He was making his way up to the porch while we were having
dinner. He was a pretty good size & had tags in his ears.
Although it is a treat to see one we hurried to scare him off and send
him on his way. Keep your eye out for him at your house!
Dan has peeked into the potato patch and it looks like we are going to
have a bumper crop! But they still have some growing to do so we
won’t start harvesting them for a few more weeks.
Dan has been tending our fall cabbage and brussel sprouts. Like
other members of the brassica family – arugula, komatsuna, turnips,
mustard greens, and broccoli – they are susceptible to the flea
beetle. These are the little critters that eat tiny holes in the
leaves. They do a lot of damage because as the plant grows so do
the little bites, leaving big holes in the harvested crop. More
importantly it can be very hard for the plant to thrive with all the
abuse of these little folks. So one thing we do is cover the
crops with row cover to protect them. Another thing we use is an
organic insecticide called Entrust. It is a biologically based
spray that can dramatically reduce the flea beetle population on your
farm if you use it on all your brassica crops. Dan’s been
spraying to make sure that the fall cabbage does indeed make it into
the fall.
Pick your own Organic/Biodynamic Blueberries!
We’ve just come back from visiting Irving Wasley in Warren. We
were picking this morning. This is the place to go for tasty high
quality blueberries. Irving as a lot of organic and biodynamic
knowledge and keeps an impeccable berry patch. He’s open for
picking on the weekends and they are just off of Route 45. There is a
sign at the end of the road. For more info their number is
860-868-2011.
This week’s harvest: lettuce, potatoes, cukes, squash, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, beets, basil
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