July sun in the fields

Things are heating up on the farm!
Raincoats and chilly mornings have moved aside and the fields are now a flutter with sunhats and the wafting smells of sunscreen (and broad-bean flowers which smell quite a bit like sunscreen to this nose!)
It’s amazing what a little heat has done for our crops. Fruits are forming on our melon and winter squash plants, and they’re filling out on the tomato and hot pepper plants. The corn has shot up seemingly overnight. The fruit in the orchard and greenhouses is coming along as well, persevering through the hungry tent caterpillars of earlier this season.

We’re finding the best places to spend time these days are in the brassica field gazing at the Romanescos and their far-out fractal patterns, or in the potatoes imagining what bounty grows beneath the mounded soil…also the lake is pretty nice.

We’ve had our share of challenging crops too – the beets and carrots are a little lackluster, and our cucumber crop will be slim this year. While spending time in these fields can be a bit depressing, we remember when we pass by the tiny apples, bulging grapes and exploding cauliflower, that plants are persistent and the land is incredibly generous – for this we are exuberantly grateful.

Stop by our farm stand or visit us at the Saturday market to share in the abundance, or sign up to our listserve for weekly updates and the opportunity to pre-order produce.