Hi Folks,

The dry weather this past week has finally allowed me to plant many of
the fall root and greens crops that I have been trying to sow for
weeks. Now of course a little rain would be appreciated to get them
sprouted and growing.  We have also been busy transplanting lettuces
and brassicas for late season harvest.

As previously mentioned a planting of summer squash is beginning to
produce, unfortunately they are already showing signs of disease. At
present I am unable to predict whether there will be sufficient
quantities to deliver in the shares this week. I expect to be able to
ship zucchini to some groups this week and to others next week.

The tomato harvest seems to be just about over for this season,
whatever fruit we are able to harvest breaks down very quickly. The
rattlesnake beans have also slowed way down in their production, due
primarily to a bad infestation of Mexican bean beetles. This is a
consequence of not being able to spray to control this pest on the
early planting of bush beans. Left uncontrolled the populations grow
rapidly and spread to successive plantings. Some of you may have
encountered a few of the yellow larva in your beans and I apologize
for that. We try to remove them as we harvest, but inevitably some
escape detection.  I have one last planting of beans that should begin
in another 2 or 3 weeks and I will be spraying them this week to try
to control this plague.

I will be sending various items as extras this week, such as turnips,
kohlrabi, tomatillos, and hot peppers. These are products that we
don’t have in large quantities and which are not universally popular.
This serves the dual purpose of supplementing a slightly light
delivery this week and allowing me to make space in my cooler. I hope
everyone can find something they can use among this assortment. I will
also be sending sweet corn this week. It will be freshly picked,
locally grown corn but not organic.

The share for this week will be: Red lettuce. Carrots, peppers,
eggplant, fingerling potatoes, yellow onions, ground cherries,
conventional sweet corn, and choice of an herb.
The fruit share for this week will be peaches and Ginger gold
apples.

Enjoy!
Farmer John

Hi Folks,

The weather has continued to present challenges during this past week. The frequent rain does not give the ground ample time to dry out enough for me to prepare ground or plant seeds. In addition high winds which accompanied a storm on August 21 tore the plastic off the high tunnel greenhouse at the Blairstown farm. I was never able to plant anything in this greenhouse due to the wet conditions, but we were using it to dry much of the onion crop. I didn’t become aware of the situation until last Wednesday ,and so on Thursday we were diverted from other pressing tasks in order to gather them and bring them to Andover to be stored in the barn, ahead of the weekend rainstorm. The same high winds knocked over much of the trellising that supports the Rattlesnake pole beans.

In between harvesting and dealing with these various calamities we have been busy transplanting lettuces and the fall brassicas crops. The week ahead is predicted to be rain free, so I hope to be able to seed a multitude of fall crops such as turnips, radishes, arugula, spinach, and various other greens.  Because I have been delayed in planting these crops for so many weeks, greens will be rather scarce for a while. About the only greens I have in great abundance are dandelions and I doubt there are many of you who are huge fans of this bitter green.  The chard has succumbed to fungal diseases because of the damp conditions, but we are attempting to rejuvenate it by cutting it off at base so it can re-grow.  We will save all the clean leaf we find to distribute in the shares bagged, because it is mostly too small to bunch.

With cooler condition beginning the kale should begin to grow well again and we can harvest it for distribution in another couple of weeks.  A second planting of zucchini and other summer squash is coming on and I hope to have sufficient quantities to deliver by next week.

The share for this week will be Romaine lettuce, white potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, Rattlesnake beans, beets, leeks, choice of Swiss chard or dandelion greens, garlic, ground cherries, and choice of an herb.

The fruit share this week is nectarines and Italian plums.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hello Folks,

It finally feels like summer in NJ, with the heat and humidity we’ve come to know and endure. We are enjoying what seems like an unprecedented 5 day period without rain, but it is predicted to end by Wednesday as we head into another week of showers and thunderstorms.

Normally at this time of year I am impeded from seeding crops for the fall by dry conditions. This season however it has been a challenge to find windows of opportunity for planting when the soil is not too wet.  I have been behind schedule on my planting since early June, and as I rush to plant each crop before it’s too late, another crop has to wait until after it’s optimal planting time. Let’s hope it’s a warm fall with no frost until late October! In any given year some crops do poorly due to weather conditions or other variables.

I’m sure most of you have heard about the problems with tomatoes this season due to late blight. While my farm has not yet been affected by this disease, we nevertheless have a plethora of other diseases affecting the tomato crop. Even the tomatoes in the high tunnel greenhouses have been affected. We are harvesting quite a few tomatoes at present, owing to the sheer number of plants we put in. But most of this fruit is coming from plants that are almost dead and will not produce a sustained harvest. We are doing what we can to save those varieties which may have a chance of continued production, but the bottom line is it won’t be a very good year for tomatoes.

Currently we are picking quite a few heirloom tomatoes, especially a variety called Cherokee purple. These have a very dark colored fruit with green shoulders which I and many others consider to be the most delicious of the heirlooms. Keep in mind that they will not lose their green shoulders and you must judge their ripeness by softness.  Heirlooms are notoriously perishable so enjoy them soon after you receive them.

The share for this week will be: White potatoes, green leaf lettuce, celery, white onions, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, choice of dandelion greens or Swiss chard, string beans, choice of red or Savoy cabbage, and choice of an herb.

The fruit share for this week will be peaches.  It will count as a half share, the other half of which I will have to make up later in the season. The reason for this is that I had ordered red plums as the 2nd half and they arrived with 25% rotten fruit. Since the grower was unwilling to make an adjustment on the price I had to reject them completely.  Next week will be the week off for fruit shares, we will resume again in September.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Starbrite Farm Update #11
Hi Everyone,

This past week we finished harvesting the onion crop, which is a great
relief. With these wet and humid conditions everyday that they
remained in the field they were in danger of rotting. Now we can turn
our attention to other pressing matters such as getting the weeds
under control in the winter squash and elsewhere, and beginning to
transplant the fall broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

The beets have finally sized up so we will be shipping them this week.
There will be some regular purple types and some Chioggia beets, an
Italian heirloom, also known as Candy cane which is white with red
rings inside. The eggplant and tomatoes have begun to produce so they
will be in the share for this week as well.

The tomatoes are rather small and there aren’t that many ripe just
yet, but it’s a start. The truth is that my tomato crop looks terrible
and I don’t expect a very good season for tomatoes this year. You have
probably heard about the problem of late blight on tomatoes in NJ.
This disease, also known as phytoptera is what caused the Irish potato
famine, and is quite devastating. I heard that one local farm lost
their entire crop of tomatoes and potatoes. Fortunately we have not
seen any sign of it yet here at the farm. But there is a plethora of
other diseases affecting the tomatoes; even the tomatoes in the
greenhouse have been affected.

We still have an abundance of the sweet onion, so we will be sending
these again this week, as they aren’t great keepers. While I normally
only send one member of the Allium family each week, I know that many
of you are waiting for more garlic, so we will be sending it as
well.

The share for this week will be: Red Boston lettuce, garlic, sweet
onions, All Blue potatoes, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, fennel, string
beans, and choice of an herb.

The fruit share will be nectarines and Kagman apples.
Enjoy!
Farmer John

Hello Everyone,

We received some much needed rain this past weekend and fortunately the hailstorms that were about missed us this time. The ground is still quite dry, which is good for digging potatoes but not for much else.

We have been busy putting up trellis for tomatoes and for many people’s favorite, the Rattlesnake pole bean. The beans have been coming in heavily, so we have an ample supply for the shares this week. Unfortunately one variety that I planned which was supposed to be a green bean has produced yellow wax beans, so we have more wax beans than green beans at the moment.

This week you will be receiving Ailsa Craig sweet onions, a wonderful heirloom variety. These we will send with the green tops still attached, which can be used like a scallion.

We will also be shipping radicchio, most of which is the trevisio type which has a form like a small romaine lettuce.

We are continuing with the rotation of cukes and summer squash (zukes). If you got one last week you should get the other this week.

The share for this week will be: Red leaf lettuce, sweet onions, red skinned potatoes, string beans, cabbage, choice of Swiss chard or dandelion greens, radicchio, red skinned or golden turnips, cucumbers or summer squash and choice of an herb- summer savory, sweet marjoram, or parsley.

The fruit share this week will be Shiro plums and Mutsu apples.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

The continued dry spell enabled us to get somewhat caught up on the work we fell behind with during the monsoon.  Unfortunately we are now falling behind on the planting and some of the other tasks normal to Mid-July, such as tying up the tomatoes and harvesting the onions.

We have finished harvesting the garlic and it is hung up to cure. The harvest looks good with good size bulbs and not much problem with rot. It will be in the share again in 2 or 3 weeks.

We have begun harvesting the onions and as I feared the wet conditions have caused problems with rot. We have tried to save as many as we could by spreading them out in the greenhouse to dry, but many were too far gone. We will begin shipping some white onions this week and a sweet variety called Ailsa Craig next week. For the time being I recommend using your onions quickly as the sweet onions don’t keep well.

A word about the updates- I try my best to make predictions about what will be ready during the coming week on Sunday, because some groups receive their delivery on Tuesday. Please bear in mind that this is a prediction and not a guarantee. Things change and sometimes there is not enough of an item for groups that receive later in the week. I keep careful track of who has gotten what and to keep things equitable. Generally if an item is on the list and you don’t get it that week you will get it the next. This is the case for a number of items this week such as cauliflower, and squash/cucumbers as well as peas and favas which are ending vs. beans which are just beginning.

During the past week we were forced to harvest thousands of heads of lettuce we were about to lose to bolting. These are now in cold storage to be saved for distribution over the next several weeks.  Lettuce keeps very well this way for 2 or 3 weeks, but we just have too much and no more space in the coolers. And since many of the heads are a bit small, we will be sending 2 different varieties this week, probably a red romaine and a Boston (no guarantees!).

The share for this week will be: Yukon Gold potatoes, white onions, lettuces, carrots, cauliflower, choice of Swiss chard or kale, basil, bok choy, peas or beans, and squash or cucumbers.

(NOTE: the fruit share this week will be blueberries and peaches)

Enjoy!

Farmer John

here’s John’s note from the farm this week!

Hello Folks,

We’ve been busy this past week trying to catch up with the planting and with the weeding that we were unable to get done this past month due to the rain.

I have almost finished planting the pumpkins and the winter squash. On Monday I will finish up with planting the acorn squash and will also try to plant the edamame soybeans. We have also begun to harvest the garlic and hang it in the barn to cure. We should finish that project as well early this week.

We have also been busy in the greenhouse planting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and other thing for the fall crop. The tops on some of the onions have begun to die back so we will be starting the onion harvest next week.

The share for this week will be: Romaine lettuce, Chinese cabbage, carrots, fresh garlic, peas, basil and choice of mustard or dandelion greens.

Enjoy,

Farmer John