August is behind us, school starts up, and temperatures moderate, but summer is not quite over! We still have plenty of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes, although the heirlooms are in a bit of a recovery mode. Peppers are coming in strong, with fall favorites like leeks and celeriac coming out of the fields. We’ve got one block of…
As we head into the final days of August, the cooler nights of late feel downright brisk compared to the intense heat of just a week ago. It’s a welcome break for both people and our lettuce crops. Meanwhile, the crops keep pouring in. The next 3 or 4 weeks are often the most abundant harvests on our…
This week’s newsletter comes to you from 5th season Fort Hill Farm veteran, Lauren Henderson. Lauren is doing a great job as the field manager, running the day-to-day tasks and making sure we actually get everything done. Her enthusiasm for organic vegetables shows in her writing: August is one of my favorite times on the farm,…
Last week we got another one of those “hail Mary” rains that gives you a break from irrigating but moves through quickly enough not to bring on lots of foliar diseases in the crops. This gave us some time to put down the pipe and catch up on some weeding. With so many planting and harvesting tasks…
So far the growing season can be summed up as 3 months of flood followed by 2 months of drought. Even with the big swings in weather, crops continue to look good. We are at “peak tomato,” as the crew brought in a huge harvest of heirloom tomatoes and sungold cherry tomatoes today. We will be able…
Lots of heat with the occasional rain is a good recipe for lots of sweet corn, juicy tomatoes, crispy cukes, versatile eggplant, and some big sweet Ailsa Craig onions. Throw in some timely irrigation, and the lettuce, salad mix, and chard will join the party as well. Time for some pickin’ and grinning on the farm! The…
Last week the main driver on the farm was HEAT. Since working in the field in the afternoon felt like wearing 20 pound weights on your legs, we got going an hour earlier to make full use of the cooler morning air, and carried on. We start harvest with lettuce, chard, kale, and herbs, since they are…
Sometimes the Farm News breaks down into a “there’s so much rain we can’t get in the fields and all our crops are rotting” or “it hasn’t rained, and we are irrigating like crazy” dichotomy. Not to be a broken record, but we are definitely in the latter camp. The very wet April, May, and June are…
Summer paid us a visit last week, bringing some warm temperatures and ground dry enough to cultivate and hoe. Fairly quickly, we were back in irrigation mode. Our sandy soil has a short memory, and once we go 4 days without a soaking rain, we need to add the water ourselves. The farm is almost at cruising…
What a difference two weeks of hot temperatures can make. We’ve seen some big leaps in crop growth, with the summer squash and cucumbers leading the way. They have been trickling in over the last few weeks but really started pumping out fruit last week. We’ve put them on sale this week, and made some…