Hi Folks,

These are times that try men’s souls!

This is the time of the season that is perhaps the most difficult for me and my workers. We have begun harvesting substantial amounts of produce and yet still a great deal of planting to be done. We are battling the first batch of summer weeds, which grow so quickly that they rapidly overtake many slower growing crops. There are irrigation lines to be run, sprinklers to move around, and trellis to be put up for the peas, cukes, and tomatoes.

I have hundreds of melon plants ready to be transplanted as well as herbs and flowers. It is time to plant the pumpkins and winter squash and the edamame soy beans, and in the greenhouse we must begin planting all of the fall crops, such as broccoli, cauliflower and radicchio. If I can just make it through these next few weeks it will all be downhill from there! Not really, but that’s what I like to pretend.

The first planting of summer squash is growing nicely and beginning to flower, so we should have zucchini in another 2 weeks. My first planting of string beans has germinated well, and I expect to begin harvesting them in about a month.

One bit of bad news is that I did not receive the sweet potato plants that I ordered. The company I ordered them from advised me that due to an extended drought last year and a very cool spring this season, their production was substantially reduced and they could not fill my order. I am very disappointed because I enjoy growing them almost as much as eating them, and I had planned to double my plantings from last year and try several new varieties. I will try to source some locally grown sweet potatoes to purchase and include in the shares this fall.

The share for this week will be: Red Boston lettuce, radishes, peas, kale, bok choy, and choice of escarole or endive (frissee). Those who did not receive broccoli last week will get broccoli instead of kale.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

We have finally arrived at the week you have all been waiting for- the first delivery. It will be a small one as the first delivery usually is, but there’s lots of good stuff on the horizon.

We have begun picking peas, both English (shell) and sugar snaps. The broccoli has begun to head up, but unfortunately the plants are still rather small and hence will produce small heads. The quality looks good though, and it just means that we will need to put 4 or 5 in a bunch instead of 2 or 3. This was caused by 2 very cold nights (25 degrees) in early May that burned the outer leaves of the plant and set back it’s growth. Extreme cold stresses plants and stress induces flowering. I am having a similar problem with the escarole and the red spinach.

I was delayed in writing this update because I wanted to address the issue of the current salmonella out break in tomatoes, and have been doing some reading on the subject to be better informed on the mechanism of the contamination. Unfortunately the FDA and the CDC don’t seem to have a very good handle on this subject at this point, even though these outbreaks have been occurring since the early 90’s and there was a serious outbreak in 2004. I just received a letter from the NJ Dept. of Ag. stating that NJ has been added to the list of “safe” states. However since they have not been able to pinpoint the source of the contamination the concept of determining safe states or regions seems rather dubious and contrary to the norms of epidemiological investigation.

From what I have learned so far it seems probable that the source of the contamination is in the post harvest end of the industrial food chain. Large wash tanks that are used in the packing houses may be implicated in cross contamination of the tomatoes. I don’t expect to begin delivering tomatoes for another 6 or 7 weeks, so hopefully there will be better information available by then. I will plan to write more on this subject when we begin the tomato harvest.

The share for this week will be Red lettuce, choice of Sugar snap peas or English peas, broccoli, broccoli leaf, red spinach, garlic scapes, and choice of oregano or cilantro. The broccoli leaf can be used the same as Kale, steamed or sautéed, and also makes a great base for cream of broccoli soup. (Sauté the leaf with onion adding some water at the end to finish cooking, then put into a blender with milk or cream) The garlic scapes can be grilled or chopped finely and sautéed to add garlic flavor to a dish, such as the spinach or broccoli. They keep a very long time in the fridge, so don’t feel like you need to use them up quickly.

Enjoy! Farmer John

Farm Update #2

Hi Everyone,

It’s hard to believe 2 weeks has gone by since my last update; time flies when you have too much to do! It’s shaping up to be another dry spring similar to last year. Various predicted rains have failed to materialize or perhaps I should say, have vaporized. Drought is difficult in any season but it is worse in the spring because so many seeds are being planted that require consistent moisture to germinate well, and so many transplants are being set out that require adequate water to take root and begin growing.

Another complication is with field preparation which involves plowing under cover crops or weeds (nature’s cover crops) and debris from last years crops to decompose. The microorganisms that perform this brilliant act of recycling require water for their activities and without moisture decomposition grinds to a halt. This has me particularly worried because I rented, and have just plowed an additional 6 acres of field that has been in hay for many years. The thick sod gets flipped over by a mull board plow to lay face down and rot, which will take weeks or even months. The process can be accelerated by rototilling, but in dry conditions this is less effective and also creates clouds of dust and windborne soil loss. But don’t worry too much (that’s my job!) there’s rain in the forecast and maybe the weatherman isn’t lying this time.

In any event the first planting of peas is up and growing as are the fava beans, in spite of having there beds severely trampled by the neighbor’s escaped horses. We’ve planted thousands of brassicas (were you paying attention during that class?) and lettuces these past 2 weeks, watering them in with hoses and watering cans. We’ve also been planting tens of thousands of onions in the past weeks, these at least are a bit easier to irrigate since they are planted on black plastic mulch with drip lines. It’s only a matter of hooking up the lines and opening a valve, a task that needed to be done anyway.

A couple of good rain days will also allow us to catch up on greenhouse work, and begin cutting up seed potatoes. We have thousands of tomato, eggplant and pepper plants that need to be moved into larger soil cells and it’s time for another round of greenhouse seeding. Cutting up seed potatoes into small pieces for planting is a daunting task when you’re sowing over 2000 lbs. This will likely be one of the jobs that I will be requesting help with during the upcoming volunteer work days.

That’s all for now, pray for some rain, but not too much!

Farmer John

Update to the update: In between writing the update and sending it out we got about an inch and a half of rain, so I’m sorry I ever mentioned the D word. Now the forecast is for a rainy week ahead, and I’m hoping they’re wrong this time!

Happy Spring Everyone! According to the calendar we’re 3 weeks into the season, but it’s only been during the last few days that it has actually felt like spring. The forsythias are blooming and the garlic is up and growing. We’ve been busy in the greenhouse for the last 5 or 6 weeks planting lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and radicchio among other things. Many of these plants are ready to go outside to be “hardened off”, which means becoming accustomed to slightly colder nighttime temperatures and the drying effect of the wind. I hope to begin transplanting these by the end of the week. Actually the planting season began in early February with onions and leeks that I started in a vacant room in my house under florescent lights. These crops are slow germinators and slow growers and should be transplanted out into the field as early in April as possible. Since it’s too cold and would be too expensive to heat the greenhouse to grow these plants in February, I choose to let my neighbors wonder: “what’s he growing in there”. We began transplanting the onions into the field this past week, and will be continuing to plant them out over the next couple of weeks. Also planted this past week were about 2200 row feet of Fava beans, and nearly 6000 r.f. of peas. In the next 2 weeks I will be spending a lot of time on the big tractor plowing and preparing ground for the many crops that it will soon be time to seed, and the plants which will soon be ready for transplanting. I expect to begin planting potatoes in the next few days; a process that will continue for several weeks. Spring has sprung and the hard work has begun! I look forward to a great season. Farmer John

Hi Folks!

It seems as if we’ve gone straight from summer to winter, with nights getting colder almost every day. We have experienced some damage to various crops which are normally very tolerant to cold. At present we are scrambling to harvest or cover various planting of greens, lettuces, and even normally hardy cabbage family crops, in preparation for the coldest nights yet this fall, predicted for Wednesday and Thursday.

Today we finished harvesting the last of the potatoes. As always it’s a great relief to be done with that arduous task. Now I need to turn my attention to planting some cover crops to protect and improve the soil over the winter, and prepare ground for planting next years garlic crop. Garlic cloves are planted now and grow some roots before the ground freezes, then begins growing above ground as soon as the ground thaws in early spring. You might think that things would be slowing down by now, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, that will keep us busy right up to the end of the month.

The share for this week will be: Lettuce, salad turnips, celery root, tatsoi, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, choice of leeks or scallions, peppers, choice of cabbage or kohlrabi, bok choi, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Folks,

Well the seemingly endless summer has finally come to a close with a hard freeze last night. All of the warm weather crops, such as beans, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini were killed. We were able to harvest some of these before the cold blast, so they will still be some for the shares for at least one more week. The Romaine lettuce was also slightly burned at the tips, but they are very large and dense heads, so there’s still plenty of good eating left.

There’s also plenty of good stuff still in the fields, that is essentially unaffected by this degree of coldness (pun intended). In the coming weeks the shares will be more centered around root crops, hardy greens, brassicas, and winter squash.

The share for this week will be: French fingerling potatoes, garlic, parsnips, Romaine lettuce, spinach, broccoli, peppers, daikon or Easter egg radishes, spaghetti and buttercup squash, choice of an herb, and choice of arugula, broccoli raab, or kale.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Folks!

The mild weather continues with another 5 or 6 days without much chance of frost. This means we can continue to enjoy summer vegetables alongside the beautiful fall greens and winter squash.

The unstoppable Rattlesnake beans continue producing and my late planting of bush beans is attempting to produce a crop, albeit painfully slowly. The tomatoes too, are ripening very slowly, but the ones I have sampled still have good flavor. The regular green spinach is still a bit small for bunching, so we will be harvesting a nice red veined variety called Bordeaux. The broccoli is still not maturing in sufficient quantities for delivery this week but should certainly be ready by next week.

For those of you for whom this is you last pickup (that’s the other CSA’s, not the Bloomfield-Montclair CSA), thank you so much for participating. I hope you have enjoyed the season! For the rest, there’s lots of great produce to look forward to in the coming weeks.

The share for this week will be: Boston lettuce, Acorn squash, Hakurei turnips, bok choy, red onions, Bordeaux spinach, All red potatoes (pink inside) tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beans, ornamental gourds, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

Well fall has finally arrived and despite the fact that there were no predictions for a frost, we had a very light frost this past Friday and again Saturday night. The cold slightly burned the summer squash and beans, but they are still alive and should continue to produce. The tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant remain relatively unscathed. We also received buckets of rain this past week, ending the long dry spell. It’s predicted to warm slightly this week, with no frost expected for another 10 days.

The broccoli is heading up nicely and will be in the share next week. The spinach is getting large as well and should be big enough to cut next week.

The share for this week will be: Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, summer squash, pumpkins, radishes, choice of Napa cabbage or kohlrabi, delicate squash, lettuce, and choice of an herb.

Enjoy!

Farmer John

Hi Everyone,

As I imagine you have noticed, the unseasonable warmth and dryness continues. There are predictions for some rain about midweek and a slight drop in temperatures into the weekend, but still no frost expected for the next 2 weeks.

This is great news as we can continue to enjoy summer veggies for another few weeks and perhaps even see a resurgence of tomatoes. We have begun heavily pruning the late planting of tomatoes to encourage the plants to ripen their fruit rather than continue to put their energy into flowering and excessive vegetative growth. There are over a thousand plants and several thousand pounds of green fruit that should start to ripen soon.

The peppers and eggplant continue to produce abundantly. Late plantings of beans are beginning to flower and the summer squash has small fruit growing.

Meanwhile we are busy harvesting the winter squash, pumpkins and gourds. Soon we will begin harvesting the sweet potatoes, which appear to have produced a good crop. The fall broccoli and cabbage are beginning to form heads and should be ready to cut in 2 weeks. The Hakurei salad turnips are beginning to size up and will be in the share this week. The greens are beautiful, tender, and nutritious and can be used in salads or sautéed/steamed.

We also have lettuce again, with Green leaf for this week and Boston and Romaine to follow in the coming weeks. We will also be shipping Tatsoi this week, a mild Asian mustard green which is great in stir fries or mixed into salads.

Next week we will de delivering pumpkins. While all pumpkins are edible, there are some such as Long Island Cheese and Jarradale which are better for making soups, cakes and pies. I would like to take a poll this week to know your preference for an ornamental or a cooking type, so I can bring the appropriate # of each.

The share for this week will be: Lettuce, potatoes, sweet corn (conventional), peppers, eggplant, Hakurei turnips, Tatsoi, white onions, Butternut squash, beans, choice of an herb, and some form of tomatoes (either cherries, slicers, plums, or small salad)

Enjoy!

Farmer John