Thursday June 26th 2014
… and on the eighth day God said “Let it rain!”
I heard that this has been the wettest June, thus far in the Twin Cities, than any other June in history. That is saying something!! I do not believe that we have received quite as much, but the fields have been saturated for weeks. I thought I would write this week’s article about the consequences of this weather pattern on the crops.
There are several aspects to a very wet spell that I would like to touch on:
*The fields – Although we have had no actual flooding, we have experienced areas that have washed out partial rows of crops or moved soil so as to cover up plants. There has been some erosion, but not much. Mainly, the fields have remained too wet to drive on to cultivate or till, and much of the time, even too wet to hoe. We have been doing some mulching and much hand pulling while the grass and weeds smirk and say ‘catch me if you can.’ Once the ground dries out, the grass/weeds will be too big to cultivate out well without harming the plants. And so the battle will wage on for most of the season.
*The crops – Some of the crops seem to be drinking up all of the moisture with pleasure: my potatoes are the best ever, the tomatoes have plum-like fruit on already, and most of the herbs are growing like crazy.
Other crops have been struggling: fennel, some melons, and 3rd sweet corn are choking in the greenhouse because we cannot get them into the field, many crops like the eggplant are being lost in a jungle of green, half of the cuke seed rotted in the wet soil and did not germinate, and the strawberries have been mushy from hard rain.
*The workers – Although it is somewhat frustrating, it is not so much different than any other season as a farmer. There is always some aspect of the crop or weather that isn’t ideal. Like I told the interns, “In another 3 weeks we may be doing a rain dance.” I have to say that it is nice not having to irrigate and the crops always prefer the real thing. As for us, we will keep on keeping on!
Stand like a mountain
Flow like a river
– qigong
Farmer’s notes:
– This is the last of the asparagus for the season. It is a farmer’s choice with strawberries for the full shares. Asparagus is a staple in the spring shares and the first 2 summer boxes. The strawberries are nothing to brag about this season. The deep frost damaged many plants and now it has been difficult to find anytime to pick them when they are not wet. Please eat yours pronto as I fear they will not store for long.
– Final green onions from last fall’s planting – use them in cooking
– Collard greens are young, fresh and delicious – lightly steam them with some oil, salt and pepper and vegetable stock.
– Napa cabbage can be eaten cold as a roll with rice/beans/meat etc. inside or steamed, sautéed, or stir-fried.
– Kale is young and tender and full of flavor…and, oh, so good for you
– Romaine, and other lettuces, is a crop that you will see more times than not in your produce box during the course of the season.
– Chives and cilantro are a few of the many different types of herbs that we grow here at Earth Dance Farm – the ‘vegetable of the week’ speaks to these crops. We try not to give more than one or two herbs in any box.
– Spinach was fairly yellowed from the constant rains and required much sorting. It was tasty this evening with some strawberries.
