Farm Report June 24

We had a productive week on the farm last week.  Fields finally were dry enough to work, so that's what we did.  We worked.

Our last blog post provided a list of tasks we hoped to complete in a week.  Our last update to that post just went live.  You may go here to see it.

If you've looked out the window or listened to weather reports, you know we've been getting rain again.  We thought we were going to get through it pretty well until the early AM rains.  Now, we are very wet again.  Not to the point of standing water in the fields, but we may have to delay putting more in for a few days.  That's hard to take when we knew we were already four weeks behind on our planting.  On the other hand, we are painfully aware that there are people who received so much rain that we are looking at near record flooding again this year.  We are, in particular, worried about the New Hartford area that has been hit by so much adverse weather the past few years.

Nonetheless, we forge onward and will continue to make progress.  Sometimes, that means we will need to decide to let a crop go.  Other times, it means we will do work in the fields even though it is not the best conditions to work.  And, in all cases, we will do what we can to keep our attitude positive.  In every case this year we have made the best choices we could make given the conditions, resources and information we had at that moment.  Sometimes, we chose poorly, others we chose well - and in most cases, it is hard to tell which way the chips will fall.  Tammy and I are both certain we're giving this our best go.  We have more knowledge and more tools to work with this year - and that has helped.

Broilers (chickens)
   These are growing well, despite our inability to move them to the proper locations when we wanted them moved.  They should be right around our normal weight ranges when processed (4-6 pounds).  They will be available second week of July.

Hens
 The young hens are now integrated into the flock.  Laying rates are reasonably good and the birds are being bird-like.  Therefore, all is well.

Turkeys
  The normal early losses are over and the birds are curious about things and growing.  Can't complain about that.

Ducks
  Are also being ducks.  Again, this is a good thing.

Potatoes and Beans
   This field looks good as long as you skip the north part that was under water for a while.  The dry beans are good.  The green beans still need replanting.  About 75% of the potatoes made it through the early wet issues and are on target for a decent year of production.  The German Butterballs are gone.  But, we have Carola (another yellow), Mountain Rose, Purple Majesty and Rio Grande going strong.  They are on target for August/Sept harvest.  Of course, the weeds are now becoming an issue, but we'll do what we must on that front.

Winter Squash
   These are still in trays.  The field was very nearly ready to be planted before we got more rain.  The long season winter squash are now unlikely to have enough time to ripen.  That means butternuts are unlikely to make it.  We may opt to fill in with shorter season items and drop them entirely.  This assumes we get into the field this week.

Brassica/Onion
  We were able to put in 500 feet of broccoli, 200 feet of cauliflower and 100 feet of romanesco.  We also put in 100 feet of white onions.  The onion plants are still progressing in their trays, but we're not sure what sort of results we can get out of them now.  At the least, we hope to pick alot of them as green onions for you later in the season.  To give perspective, there are still approximately 1200 feet of onions left to go in the ground. Assuming they go in the ground.  The brassica listed here are likely to be August/Sept crops now.  The early crops just didn't make it.

Pea/Cucumber/Carrots
  the cucumbers like this rain as long as it doesn't pond on them.  The peas are also fine with it.  And, the carrots are big enough now to handle it.  We expect the cukes to begin showing solid growth about 7-10 days after transplant.  We're still a few days away from saying they're going to develop into the plants we want.  But, so far so good.  We usually figure about 30-40 days for cucumbers.  So, July 20 is a reasonable guess for a first trickle from them.  Peas may be a week away.  Carrots?  3 weeks for smaller carrots is our current guess.  But, they also sing theme song "Weed Me" along with other crops.

Tomatoes/Basil
No basil in the ground at this time.  Tomatoes are in and are getting roots set.  We expect alot of new growth starting about midweek.  We will need to look to the high tunnel for early production, but they are still a ways off.  Not likely to see any July tomatoes this year.  We still hold some hope for early August tomatoes from the high tunnel.  Likely late August for field tomatoes this year.  We are in the same boat as many in our area.  Lots of gardens just now getting put in - regardless of size.  I am guessing we are all hoping for late frosts!

Summer Squash/Zucchini/Turnips/Garlic
  Garlic is late - yes we planted it on time.  The scapes are just now getting going, so we can begin harvesting them.  Turnips look good and need thinning.  We are about 2-3 weeks from small turnips to harvest.  Summer squash/zucchini successions 1/2 are starting to show serious growth on the West end of the field.  The east end was planted later and gets a bit wetter, but the plants are still growing.  Succession 3 is still putting on the roots to grow.  We often hope for our first summer squash and zucchini July 10 or so.  That is likely too optimistic - we're hoping for July 24 this year.

Peppers/Eggplant/Okra/Beans
We put some green beans in this plot and they are germinating.  That puts us with green beans in late July or early August assuming all goes well.  Peppers and eggplant that the deer and rabbits haven't devastated are starting to take.  The field needs another cultivation, but we should be ok.  Move the dates for these about 2-3 weeks back from normal at this point.  Okra has germinated.  We will see what they do, but we expect little from them.

Melon/Watermelon
These are still in trays.  We're very disappointed in this since this is one of our favorites to eat in the summer.

Greens
Regardless of how you feel about greens, they are the bulk of early season production.  And, we're having a rough go of it this year.  Our first arugula planting bolted before it got any size to pick.  Thursday CSA got all we had for mustard greens in succession I.  Succession II is getting ready to pick, but we're watching it closely as it may decide to bolt in the heat.  We have radish getting ready in the next week or so.  Kale is spotty, with many still in trays.  Chard is starting to get somewhere but needs attention.  Our field spinach planting didn't make it so we will till that in.  Chinese cabbage looks like it is starting make a run of it, as are some kohlrabi.  Both are 3-4 weeks away.  We're trying to get more lettuce in and filled a raised bed with lettuce. 

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There is likely more to report, but that is all I can think of at the moment.  We hope you find these reports useful.

Rob and Tammy