Greetings, This Saturday October 10th the share and all u-pick will be closed. Meghan and Rob are getting married !! This week only the share hours will change to: Tuesday Oct. 6 and Thursday Oct. 8 the share hours will be from 12-7. There will be a table out during the share hours with information about the Winter Bulk Share as well as renewal forms for next year, be sure to pick one up. Thanks for your understanding , Meghan and Rob    

Dear Friends,

                 This past week we ate, slept, and dug potatoes.  At least that’s what occupied every spare moment that we weren’t harvesting for the share.  We grow a little over an acre of potatoes which made the dig a real marathon.  By weeks end we were tired and sore but smiling with pride knowing that we had just socked away over 11,000 lbs. of really nice potatoes and checked one of the bigger fall harvest tasks off the list.  Many thanks to the farm members that made it to volunteer last Wednesday without your help we’d still have potatoes in the ground. 

If you remember the newsletter I wrote about late blight earlier in the year you may recall that we mowed our late blight infested potato foliage early (about 4 weeks earlier than normal) to prevent spread of the fungus from the foliage into the tubers.  I am happy to report that our preventative measures were successful!! When battling crop diseases organically it sure is nice to win one every now and again!  The yield from our potato field was a little lower than we were hoping for, but not by much so we’ll certainly take it (especially in a year like this). 

A crop disease that we did not win the battle against unfortunately was phytopthora capsici which can be devastating to crops in the cucurbit family like squash, pumpkins, watermelon etc..  Phytopthora in Latin means plant destroyer.  Our winter squash crop that looked so promising earlier in the year first showed signs of this disease in late July.  As you may remember from an earlier newsletter there is really nothing you can do to prevent phytopthera in organic squash other than trying to contain the spread of the disease.  When we discovered the first symptoms of phytopthera we tried to contain it by tilling in infected parts of the field including some bordering sections of good squash in a desperate attempt to stop the spread and save the rest. 

It is hard to say what would have happened if we did not take those preventative measures but despite our best efforts the disease reached just about every part of our 2 plus acre squash field resulting in a loss of about 65% - 70% of the crop. We were able to realize the full extent of our loss when we went into harvest last week.  We lost all of our spaghetti squash, buttercup, delicata, sweet dumpling, and acorn.  We were able to salvage some ambercup, pie pumpkins, cheese pumpkins, hubbard squash, bottleneck gourds, and a few jack-o-lanterns.  The squash that weathered the disease best was the butternut, though we did lose   some of that as well.  We managed to pull out about 5,000#’s of butternut out of the field where there should have been 15,000#’s.  Phytopthora capsici is persistent in the soil and can survive for several years.  It is becoming more and more problematic for farmers in the Pioneer Valley that have grown winter squash in the same fields year after year and it spreads like wildfire in the weather conditions we have experienced the last two years. 

So while we lost some of our favorite squash varieties this year (delicata) we take comfort in knowing that we do have some squash and we can sit down this winter over a bowl of butternut soup, plan our crop rotation and put next year’s winter squash crop in a field far far away from where this year’s crop was.  We hope you enjoy the harvest!

On behalf of the farm crew power duo Max and Sue…

Your Farmers,

Rob and Meghan

WHAT’S IN THE SHARE??

This week marks a shift in the harvest as we begin to focus more on picking and distributing our fall crops.  Gone are the summer squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.  The eggplant and peppers will hang on for a little longer but soon will diminish as well.  In their place we'll have a barrage of tasty roots, broccoli family crops, and onion family crops to keep your palates excited.  This week you’ll see the first of the fall leeks, scallions, turnips, and cabbage soon to be followed by celeriac, butternut squash, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and parsnips.  SOUP SEASON IS HERE! get those pots out and distill your share into a sweet liquid to warm you up on the cold nights ahead.

U-PICK

As the fall takes hold our u-pick crops diminish as well.  We have some nice fall flowers (calendula, bachelors buttons, and cosmos that are just about to bloom), cilantro dill, basil, and a final planting of beans that should be around for a few more weeks.

NO SHARE OCTOBER 10th, SATURDAY

Meghan and I are getting married!!!  To compensate for the lost Saturday share we’ll extend our share hours on Tuesday and Thursday of that week.  Tuesday October 6th and Thursday October 8th share hours will be 12pm-7pm.

RENEWALS and BULK SHARE

Well start share renewals for 2010 next week (Sept. 29th) during the share pickup.  The bulk share sign ups are coming soon.  We’ll let you know all the details ASAP.

 

                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16TH

 

RIVERLAND FARM POTATO HARVEST

Come join us on Wednesday to pull our potatoes out of the ground.

 

WHEN: Your welcome to join us anytime starting at 8am. We will be harvesting potatoes most of the day.

WHERE: Park at the farmstand and find a field map on the shareroom door with directions to the potato field. (It is an easy walk out to the field)

WHAT TO BRING:  You will be working in the dirt so clothes and shoes that can get a little messy. We will have water and some snacks available, you may want to bring a water bottle.  Bring a friend, many hands makes work light!

 

If you have any questions feel free to send us and e-mail or call 413-687-5781

Dear Friends,

              I think it is safe to say that summer is over and fall has fallen on this little corner of the earth.  With the past two weeks in the 70s-low 80s during the day and 40s-mid 50s at night it sure feels like a new season has walked in the door. 

              We took advantage of last weekend’s rain to get some soil building fall cover crops in the ground as we start to put parts of the farm to bed for the winter.  The cover crops that we plant after or sometimes with a cash crop serve several purposes.  They prevent erosion, build soil organic matter (increasing water and nutrient holding capacity), improve soil structure, provide weed control, and the leguminous ones like red clover and field peas fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into the soil thereby giving back some of the nitrogen the cash crop took away.  Cover crops are a big win-win and a big part of how we do what we do on the farm.

              As fall is moving in we begin to take stock of the tasks ahead of us for the next 3 months.  We still have a long way to go and a lot of  good food to pull out of the ground.  One thing that can be refreshing this time of year is to look at a to-do list that actually has an end which is something we can’t do in the spring and summer months.  We’re moving into a time of year that we are doing a lot of the larger harvests of crops that we only pick once or twice during the season.  The four biggest harvests that still lie ahead are our winter squash (which we’ll start this week), our potatoes, our sweet potatoes, and our big late root harvest (carrots, beets, parsnips, celeriac, turnips, radishes).  These big harvests, a few outstanding weeding projects, some field clean up tasks, and our regular share harvests is what will occupy our time for many of the coming weeks.  Almost all the harvesting done on the farm is done manually “the old fashioned way”.  There are, however, a few crops that we harvest with the aid of a machine.  The potato and sweet potato harvest are the most mechanically sophisticated harvests we do.  Given the rate of technological change these days it is somewhat laughable to think that one of our most complex and technologically advanced harvest tasks is performed with a 50 year old machine.  It’s not pretty… in fact it’s a real hunk of metal and could easily be mistaken for one of those turn back the clock lawn ornaments you might see on some old farmer’s lawn. 

    We pull this rudimentary machine behind a tractor where it is run from the tractor’s power take off (PTO).  There is a sharp cutting blade on the front that undercuts the tubers which then travel up a moving linked bed chain where they are separated from the dirt and then dropped back onto the surface of the soil ready to be simply picked up by us.  Any criticism we have regarding it’s looks or any jokes we may have made at it’s expense are quickly forgotten when we sink it into the soil, watch it work, and think about how much time and energy it saves us compared to the alternative of forking all the potatoes and digging them by hand.  It’s a labor of love this farming gig is and we couldn’t be happier to be the ones doing it!  Speaking of labor we lost one member of our wonderful farm crew as Dan started at GCC full time this fall.  We are a little short handed and could always use a little volunteer help if any of you have some spare time and energy.

On behalf of the farm crew Sue and Max…

Your Farmers,

Rob and Meghan

 

NO SHARE SATURDAY OCT. 10th!!!!!!!!

Meghan and I are getting MARRIED!!!  We hemmed and hawed about whether or not we could make the share and the wedding happen on the same day and after much deliberation decided we couldn’t do it (we are having it at the farm and parking would be a nightmare!!). 

WE WILL EXTEND OUR SHARE HOURS ON TUESDAY OCT 6th and THURSDAY OCT 8th TO COMPENSATE.  Rather than 2-7pm the share will run from 12pm-7pm on those days. We apologize wholeheartedly for any inconveniences but it is for a GREAT CAUSE!!

 

 BULK STORAGE CROP SHARE

Last year’s winter bulk share was a big hit.  We’ve decided to do it again with very few changes.  It will again be a 1 day pick up the week before Thanksgiving including a large amount of your favorite fall crops to store and enjoy through the winter.  We’ll have a more detailed list of what will be in the share and what it will cost toward the end of September when we’ll start doing sign ups.

 

SHARE RENEWAL

As in year’s past we will start share renewals for 2010 the week of September 21st.  We’ll have a table setup outside the share room for 2 weeks during the share pick-up

 

Check out this week's recipe !

     There was a little glitch when I sent out the e-mail earlier. Somehow a portion of the newsletter did not come through. To read the rest click on the link below to read it on our website. Thanks to those that gave me the heads up !! Enjoy the rest of the story.   Link to Newsletter    

Dear Friends,

                 Who knew that summer had heat up her sleeve this year??  Just as we had all gotten used to slogging around in our long sleeve shirts and rain gear the sky cleared and out came this strange and blinding orange orb.  It was as if Jack had planted his magical bean stalk on the farm… things began to grow.  Our freshly seeded fall greens and spinach germinated great and in record time, the red peppers started to turn red, the sweet potatoes finally got their day in the sun (literally) and put on a growth spurt reminiscent of a hungry teenager. 

It is amazing what we can accomplish when the weather works in our favor.  We took advantage of the welcome hot and dry spell to pull all of our storage onions and spread them out in the greenhouse to cure (looks like a good crop!).  We had a lot of hand weeding to catch up on and were able to make a dent in it cleaning up next year’s strawberries, a few plantings of greens and lettuce, and our fall leeks.  We were able to turn under some of our early planted fields to get them ready for a fall cover crop and we started to dig our potatoes (so far the tubers seem unaffected by the blight with the exception of being a little smaller than normal).

   Our succession plantings of sweet corn in the Montague field have really been producing well and we have at least two more weeks of good corn (including white corn) to go before it’s over.  Given that we are in the thick of corn season I thought it might be an appropriate time to let you in on how we grow sweet corn here on the farm.  A good ear of organic sweet corn has a story behind it. 

We start our crop planning and seed ordering in December and January.  This is when we figure out our crop rotation (where to plant what) and our crop plan (how much of each crop to plant and when to plant it).  We shift our crops around from field to field each year as our primary line of defense against disease and pests.  For example, if we were to plant corn in the same field every year the European Corn Borer (one of those nasty little worms that you find in your corn) that over winters in the larval stage in corn stubble would emerge in the spring looking for food and discover that we had conveniently delivered the corn to its doorstep.  

            Unlike conventional corn growers that direct seed corn into the field many organic growers, us included transplant corn.  This is obviously more labor intensive but it   

allows us to plant earlier and make sure we get a good stand.  Early conventional corn production is heavily reliant on fungicide to prevent the corn seed from rotting in the cool soil.  Before we started transplanting corn we had crows that would literally eat the seed out of the field as it was going in.  We now seed by hand in the greenhouse 7 succession plantings of corn once per week from about April 20th-June 3rd about 7,000 seeds per planting.

We transplant the corn with a mechanical transplanter that requires 5 people to operate efficiently.  1 person drives the tractor while 4 “planters” are on the seats of the transplanter feeding the plants into a set of plates that grab them foliage first and deliver them into a trench where they packed into the soil by a set of packing wheels.

Once the corn is in the ground we employ a few different techniques to keep it pest and weed free to the best of our ability.  We mechanically cultivate each corn planting 3-4 times attempting to keep it as weed free as possible until it develops a shade canopy.

As for the pests...we have been working with the UMASS extension service for the last 2 years participating in a Trichogramma wasp release program.  These wasps parasitize the eggs of the European Corn Borer.  The other main corn pest, the corn ear worm; is a little harder to control organically.  We use a pheromone trap to tell us when the ear worms have arrived and then based on the count in the trap we decide when to go in with our trusty backpack sprayer and spray each corn silk with a mixture of water and a soil bacteria called Spinosad which is toxic to the ear worm. 

When it’s time to start harvesting we pick 3 times per week on the morning of each share day just as the sun is coming up.  Corn is best when picked first thing in the morning if you wait until midday the sugars the plant stores in the ear overnight are converted back to starches and the corn is less sweet.  Most often despite our best efforts the corn ends up being a little wormy.  Sure the worms are gross but they are harmless and they are there for a reason…. ’cause the corn tastes sooooo goooood! So pluck the worm off...cut off the tip and enjoy.  Hope you enjoy the harvest!

On behalf of the farm crew Sue, Dan, and Max

Your Farmers,

Rob and Meghan

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE AND WHAT’S COMING

This week we’ll have corn, red potatoes, the last of the wa  termelon and cantaloupe, carrots, beets, onions, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, lettuce, salad greens, and cooking greens.  On the horizon…. we’ll have broccoli coming in soon along with the fall red, green, and toscano kale.  Normally we’d have spaghetti squash ready to pick this week but as I said in the last newsletter the 30% of the winter squash we lost included all of the spaghetti squash.

U-PICK

Beans: the beans are still going strong we’ll open up the soy beans very soon. 

Flowers: The flowers are still looking good and the fall succession should be coming on in a short while. 

Cherry and Sauce Tomatoes:  The blight is finally taking over in there... we’ll up the amts. this week and clean them out.

Herbs:  The basil, cilantro, and dill are looking good and there are still a few plantings to come.  The parsley has been pretty picked over and needs some time to recover along with the oregano, sage, thyme, and rosemary.

FARM POTLUCKS (fun for all ages!)

We can finally plan a potluck with some confidence that we won’t be caught in a deluge!  We’ll have 2 potlucks before year end.  1st:  Saturday September 5th 5:30pm (we are trying to arrange a musical guest… any musicians out there that want to volunteer??)  2nd: Saturday October 24th time TBA.  This will be our annual pumpkin carving potluck.  We’ll provide the pumpkins and carving tools and you provide the inspiration!

 

 

Check out the recipes on our website.

 

 

Dear Friends,

                 When I last wrote we had just mowed the foliage off of our late blight infected potatoes and were hoping that our also infected tomatoes would be able to weather the storm.  We deliberated over and again about spraying copper to prevent the spread of the blight.  In the end given the cons of copper we didn’t feel good about repeatedly spraying large amounts (which is what it would take) on our fields to try and prevent a disease that likely would have won anyway.  This year just about every farm we know in the valley has lost their entire tomato crop.  It is sad to say but we too will soon join the ranks of the “tomatoless”.   I’m happy that the blight has yet to consume the u-pick tomatoes and that we’ve all been able to enjoy some cherries but they too are infected and will soon meet their demise.

This year we planted over 4,500 tomato plants. Thinking back to early April we’ve been through a lot with these tomatoes.   From seeding in the greenhouse, to diligently watering, to transplanting from small cell trays to larger ones, to planting in the field in May, to covering all 3 tomato sections to protect them from late frosts, to cultivating and keeping them weed free, to pounding stakes every other plant, and tying the plants 5 times over to support them.  It is a tough blow to all of us to lose such an important and popular crop as the tomatoes but given that we’re experiencing a non-summer this year... losing the marquee summer crop is somehow fitting. 

It is not the only hardship we’ve suffered this year   we are still in a holding pattern with our potatoes hoping that the blight has not affected too many of the tubers.  We’ll find out this week when we start to dig them.  This perfect storm of a summer has negatively affected some other crops too.  Crops in the cucurbit family (summer squash, cukes, winter squash, melons) really don’t like it cool and wet.  As you’ve likely noticed we’ve been short on the zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers for the last week and this will likely continue, we lost about 40% of our watermelons that rotted from sitting in standing water, we had to do in about 30% of our winter squash crop to hopefully prevent the spread of disease to the rest of it, and we’ve been short on greens for the last couple weeks.

I know it sounds depressing and there have been days when it has really gotten us down but it is not all bad news that I come to you with… I’m happy to report that were having a banner year for peppers, eggplant, carrots, beets, and we’re about to be hit by a sweet corn tornado that is sure to knock your socks off! 

             I’m always coming up with these analogies between baseball and farming and while I can’t guarantee this will be the last one... I promise to cool it… at least for a little while.  We just passed the major league baseball trade deadline where contending teams try to pick up any players they might need to fill holes in their lineup.  This comes at a time when we are planting the last of our fall crops.  We too are evaluating our lineup of crops and how they are performing.  If we feel that we’ll be short on something in the summer (like tomatoes) we’ll make a trade and try to make up for it by planting extra broccoli, carrots, beets, turnips, etc. for the fall. 

We are always trying our hardest to put our best team on the field.  While some players don’t pan out for us others astound us when we least expect it.  Of course we wish that every season could be perfect and we are always hoping to exceed your expectations.  This season has been a test.  A test of our CSA model… our collective effort.  We hope that you believe in us, that you are willing to stand tall with us and weather the losses this season has brought.  I promise you there are more bountiful times ahead and we can’t do this without you! As always enjoy the harvest!

On behalf of the farm crew Dan, Max, and Sue

Your Farmers,

Rob and Meghan

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK

This week we’ll have peppers, eggplant, sweet corn, watermelon, carrots, beets, onions, and we may see the first of the cantaloupe.  I’m happy to report that we’ll be back on track with the salad mix and greens this week.

Coming Soon:  We’ll start picking some new potatoes this week and asses how they look.  You should see them in your share next week (knock on all the wood you can find).

 

U-PICK (see U-PICK board for amts. and location)

Cherry Tomatoes: We’ll up the cherry tomato amts. this week so we can get as many as we can before the blight does.

Tomatillos: See the salsa recipe on the website

Flowers: They’re still rockin’ despite the rain our fall planting should be in a couple weeks from now

Beans: Greens and yellows still producing, there is a new planting we are about to move into soon.  We should have soybeans ready soon!

 

Check out our website for recipes !!

  

 

 

Dear Shareholders, 

 There is a correction in this week's newsletter.

  There are two coppers that are accepted by OMRI in MA for organic use. Both of these are copper hydroxides not copper sulfate ! Copper hydroxide is less toxic, but still not to be taken lightly. We apologize for the misinformation.

 

Thanks

 

Dear Friends,

                  This rainy summer has gone from fodder for comedy, to a source of stress, to a daily punishment from mother nature.  Late Blight (phytophthora infestans, the cause of the Irish Potato Famine) has made it it’s way to the Northeast earlier in the season than ever before.  It thrives and spreads, as do many fungal pathogens, in this cool wet weather we’ve been experiencing for more than a month now.  Farmers all over the valley and beyond have been hit by it in their potato and tomato crops.  Here on the farm late blight has set in on our potatoes but luckily has yet to infect our tomatoes.

   It is hard to say what will happen with our potatoes.  If you remember, last year we were hit with late blight in our potato crop though it was later in the season (mid august).  It took down the plants rather quickly but did not spread to the somewhat small, not fully developed tubers.  We ended up harvesting the field a lot earlier than normal and realized reduced yields but still had a relatively decent crop that stored well. Depending on the strain and severity of infestation (largely dependent on the weather) late blight has the ability to decimate a potato or tomato crop in a little over a week leaving little to no yield. 

               There are very few control options organic farmers have to deal with this terrible fungus.  The control options we do have are solely preventative measures, the most effective of which raise moral and ethical questions for us.  Copper sulfate is the main spray used by organic farmers to manage not only late blight but several other problematic diseases and fungi.  Copper coats the leaves of the plant protecting the uninfected foliage from infection by the spores of the fungi.  There are a few formulations of Copper sulfate deemed acceptable for use in organic production by OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) but there are some negative side effects of using copper (mostly from heavy use) that are cause for concern.  Copper is a heavy metal that is strongly bioaccumulated in the environment and has been shown to be toxic to fish, frogs, earthworms, and other aquatic invertebrates in varying doses.  There are many negative effects of long term copper exposure in humans also including liver disease, cancer, and fertility complications.  While most of the negative aspects of copper are attributed to long term heavy applications, that is enough for me to call into question whether or not I would use copper or support its use in organic production. We are committed to do anything in our power to provide you with the highest quality and most varied selection of produce possible and while the choice of having tomatoes vs. not having tomatoes in the share is obvious the decision to spray an approved but questionable substance on our fields and crops is a very difficult one to make. 

              The main motivation for spraying our not yet infected tomato field is to protect the plants from late blight that could very easily spread from the nearby potato field.  Our philosophy has always been to use approved organic sprays as a very last resort.  With the persistence of these cool and rainy blight favorable conditions this may very well be time to put the last resort plan into action.  Well keep you posted on how things are shaping up.  In the mean time pray for some warmer drier weather to come our way

On behalf of the farm crew Sue, Max, and Dan

Your Farmers,

Rob and Meghan

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK

This week we’ll have eggplant, the first peppers, carrots, beets, summer squash, zucchini,  superstar and purple fresh onions, a limited amount of cucumbers (the next planting is coming soon!) lettuce, salad greens (that we are still slightly short on), and cooking greens.

Coming Soon:  corn should be here next week especially if we get some sun.  We keep waiting for those tomatoes to turn red I’ll bet we find some next week.

 

U-PICK (see U-PICK board for amts. and location)

 

Beans: The next planting is coming on so we’ll up the amounts in the share… you know what they say about beans… they are the musical fruit!

Flowers: The flowers are in full swing and if you haven’t been picking your missing out on some serious brownie points with your loved ones.  Be prepared with a water vessel when you come to the farm and an extra pair of scissors is always a good idea.

Herbs: After this week we’ll have a gap in our cilantro and dill.  The rain delayed our seeding schedule so the next planting coming on is a few weeks away.

Coming soon: Cherry tomatoes are on their way.  We may open them up as soon as the end of the week. 

Don't  forget to check out the recipes on  our website : www.riverlandfarm.com

 

 

Dear Friends,

 

                 This time of year is one of my favorites to bike around and look at all the different farms up and down the road on both sides of the river.  I have this addiction of peering in on the crops of all the other local farmers, like a nosy neighbor, and keeping a mental progress report of how things are growing.  This addiction plays out wherever I go and not just when I’m riding my bike.  It’s actually pretty bad!  Meghan keeps telling me that were destined to die in a car accident less than a mile from the farm because I just had to see what was going on in that potato field.

One of my good friends who lives in Vermont visits the farm on a fairly regular basis.  He is an avid photographer and is always talking about how photogenic agriculture is.  I couldn’t agree with him more.  I don’t take very many pictures but I am constantly taking mental pictures.  One of the best parts of this job is the scenery.  The onion field at 5am, the melons at dusk, the mob of farm members picking strawberries in the rain, washing the first carrot bunches of the season.  The landscape is ever changing not just with the four seasons but on a daily basis.  On that note if any of you have pictures of the farm that you’d like to share we are always looking for new material to post on the website or in the share room.

The order of agriculture satisfies the perfectionist part of my personality.  Long, uniform, straight (or sometimes crooked) rows of vegetables really appeal to me.  While dogs may salivate over bones, kids may scream for ice cream, a nice crop of celeriac or clean winter squash field is what winds my clock… well that and Meghan.  I sometimes wish that I had the drive to keep the other parts of my life as orderly as I strive to keep the farm but maybe I’m just a one trick pony and I have to learn to live with that (for 9 months of the year anyway).  Farming is as much a way of life as it is a job and it sure can be all consuming when the season is really cranking. 

We are fortunate enough to have a terrific farm crew this season that is dedicated, hard working, and incredibly capable.  Whereas in past years I’ve lost a lot of sleep wondering how we were going to accomplish all the tasks laid out in front of us, this year I consistently stress out about the same things but am pleasantly surprised each week at what we did accomplish despite getting rained on every day.  I look around the farm and see many bones to salivate over  and lots of ice cream to scream about.  I see garlic that’s ready to come out of the ground that may be our best crop ever, two melon fields full of foliage and growing nicely, 5 beautiful plantings of corn that will come on a little later than last year but better late than never, and more peppers waiting in the wings for some warm weather than you can shake a stick at.            

After many years of farming I’ve realized this… the season good, bad, or average is always an emotional rollercoaster.  When you invest so much of yourself into something any small failure is difficult.  I take comfort in knowing that we have diversity in our fields, an excellent farm crew on task, and a wonderfully supportive community in our corner.  Thank you and enjoy the harvest!!

On behalf of the farm crew Sue, Max, and Dan..

Your Farmers,

Rob and Meghan

WHAT’S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK

This week we’ll have carrots, beets, summer squash, zucchini, slicing cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, red cabbage, cippolini onions, purple scallions, lettuce, salad greens (that we are still slightly short on), cooking greens, and the very first of our garlic fresh out of the ground.

Coming Soon:  the peppers and eggplant may or may not trickle in next week but should be available for the following week!

U-PICK (see U-PICK board for amts. and location)

Strawberries: It was a good run but the strawberries are finally done.  I’m already looking forward to next year!

Peas: We are hitting the tail end of the peas this week enjoy them while you can.

Flowers: The flowers are in full swing and if you haven’t been picking your missing out on some serious brownie points with your loved ones.  Be prepared with a water vessel when you come to the farm and an extra pair of scissors is always a good idea.

Herbs: After this week we’ll have a gap in our cilantro and dill.  The rain delayed our seeding schedule so the next planting coming on is a few weeks away.

Coming soon:  Beans… we’ve had a tough time with our beans this year between a persistent ground hog, voracious seed corn maggots, and nasty bean beetles we lost our first planting we’re hoping to be picking the second one soon.  We’ve seen a few cherry tomatoes starting to turn orange it shouldn’t be long ‘til they’re in our salads!!!

 

Check out recipes at:  www.riverlandfarm.com/recipes