tranplanting | Fair Share Farm

TOMATOES F/P Along with a lot of reds and pinks, the yellow and green heirlooms are ripening. A new variety for us this year, the Aunt Ruby’s German Green stays green when ripe.

CARROTS F/P Freshly dug from the summer patch. They are smaller than our storage types, but sweet.

WALLA WALLA ONIONS F/P More sweet onions. It is a bumper crop this year so we are sharing the overage… and we need to make room for the storage onions to come in to the barn from the field.

CUCUMBERS F/P We have had a good run of cucumbers, but finally the patch is beginning to wind down. Lately I have been making a quick cucumber salad at night: cucumbers, onions, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. It is even better the next day for lunch and dinner too.

SALSA PACK or SUMMER SQUASH F/P

CHERRY TOMATOES F/P

CABBAGE F The last of the spring harvest.

EGGPLANT OR BEETS F

HERBS F

NEXT WEEK: More tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, eggplant and salsa packs. Potatoes and garlic return. Perhaps the first of the green beans.

FARM REPORT:
In the last 7 days the walk-in cooler needed repair, the exhaust pipe and one of the shocks fell off of the truck, the power supply for our computer went out, the refrigerator at the apprentice house died, and the van needed a tow.

Sweetpea (the name of our VW van since long before we became her owners) delivers the produce to the city twice a week and we are happy to have her back in good working order. Thanks to the diligent work at the mechanics (and, of course, a decrease in the bank account) the van is running again and most of the other items on the list are fixed or on their way to that end.

Meanwhile the crops pay no attention to our mechanical difficulties. They are ready for harvest or to be planted. They need water and weeding. This week we transplanted cauliflower, broccoli and kale.

The new barn waits expectantly to be filled with our tools, equipment and workshop. It looks so beautiful but at this point the only things in it are racks of onions drying.

First up, the 2013 Fair Share Farm CSA season will start next week on 5/22, not this week as originally anticipated. The exceptionally cool and wet Spring this year has slowed the growing process here at the farm dramatically. And, being 30 miles north of the city, we are even slower than all of you in the heat island of KC.

chickens moved to the field and pecking in the grass

But, things are growing, despite one last gasp of cold on Mother’s Day morning, when a frost visited the farm. While the forecast for the night was 39 degrees, we knew that a clear night can bring problems, so we covered all 1,300 feet of strawberry plants to protect their tender blossoms. By morning, with the tiny daggers of frost stabbing everywhere, we were happy that we learned our lesson in 2011 when similar conditions severely damaged the crop.

multiply by 1,300 feet to see why we are hopeful for a good strawberry year

Other plants had been uncovered last week and were presumed to be able to handle mid-May weather, but have been set back a little and are showing the signs of wear from Spring 2013. In particular, the 1,400 broccoli plants we planted and mulched are “buttoning up”, forming penny sized heads 3 to 4 weeks before there anticipated maturity. Peas have also struggled through things. And today we jump to 90 degrees.

mass of tomatoes at the greenhouse on Sunday awaiting transplanting

But we have many more plantings to go, and yesterday set 400 tomato plants in the ground, to go along with the 700+ pepper plants and 400 eggplant and 200 summer squash that were put in the ground today. We have three main plantings each year—Spring, Summer and Fall. So even if our early shares suffer a bit, we are starting anew with the 2013 Summer crops and are hoping for less griping about the weather.

planting tomatoes on Monday

transplanting peppers on Tuesday

Fair Share Farm

Category Archives: tranplanting

In the Share – Week 12