June 2, 2023: CSA on Mother Nature’s Timeline
I can’t remember a May with nicer weather than we had these past several weeks. Kind conditions and very few days that felt hot and muggy. We experienced very low evening temperatures over the past few weeks, including a few nights in the low 30’s and completely void of rain. This is not a norm for this area. While this weather has been kind to our bodies and felt great, it has not helped warm soil temperatures, which is the key to growing plants rapidly and at the pace we expect and plan for.
Over the past two decades of logging thousands of plantings, their timing, their variables and needs along with what took place phenologically. It is getting harder and harder as our planet changes her consistencies to shoot a bull’s eye at the harvest target.
We adhere to several standards in our timing. And our huge efforts and long days in the fields months prior to harvest are becoming more and more critical as if they weren’t enough already. I had the exact variety of lettuces go in at the same time years ago that, in the past, were ready 2 weeks ago. While this year they need another week. A 3-week differential on a plant that should only take 6 weeks post-transplanting with proper fertility and irrigation is a new integer in the farming algorithm of Mother Nature. An algorithm that has perplexed every generation before me and will continue to do so to all future generations.
So.. that being said, and as I always say in farming… Hurry up and wait!!
Now that daylight is long, plants are growing rapidly and catching up quickly. Our fields are abundant and just about ready. While irrigation is on sun up to sun down almost everyday, including weekends, we keep our eyes on the prize. Crops that are getting ready for CSA include items like various lettuces, broccoli, spinach, beets, carrots, garlic, zucchini, bunching greens like kale, swiss chard and collard greens just to name a few. Along with these cucumbers are showing flowers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a plethora of various tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are putting on growth along with potatoes, onions and much more.
I remember my early years, digesting all the differentials in data and making adjustments to compensate for what each year did, only to find that you cannot count on any type of circumstance in farming as a constant. You must work with the variables that you cannot control. Once realized, and despite the gut feeling of not wanting to disappointment, I found solace in letting Mother Nature do her job, while we stick to ours.
Our job is to grow nutritious food by cultivating the planet in a method the provides for a long future as opposed to degrading it. To me this is paramount. So as a farm we thank you for supporting such a system and appreciate your patience.
Please keep an eye on your inbox for the next communication, which will come shortly with in the next week as we are doing everything we can for the first harvest.