Time to soak up the August magic
As we begin August, I’ve taken a sigh of relief. There are crops that didn’t make it and others that have performed better than I’d hoped. It’s at this point in the season where I have to simply move onto other things if something isn’t working out. There’s not enough time left before fall to throw energy into rescue missions.
I’ve been doing a bit of mid-season reflecting these past few weeks. I wish my onions and early brassicas were better. It will be a devastatingly small crop of onions – in both quality and quantity. There’s a lesson in there for next year – don’t plant onions into a cold, muddy field that will turn into crusty clay soon after. Wait out the weather if you have to.
As for the early brassicas, some of it was pest pressure (remember the cut worms I wrote about last time). Some of it was lack of water – I should have been irrigating more intensely. There’s also probably some issues with fertility that I will have to address next season. My Brussels sprouts are still only standing about shin to knee high, which likely means they won’t be producing much.
Other crops are looking spectacular, many of which I was fearful early on that I had planted too late, such as winter squash. The plants look healthy and are putting out heavy fruit right now. It makes me hungry for a roasted delicata every time I go look at them.
July has been spent trying to play catch-up, with weeding especially. We finally got some good rainstorms here and with those, the weeds really sprung back to life. I’ve found myself feeling spun out most weeks, as I’m now doing two markets, which take away two full days from my on-farm work time. I’m enjoying being in those spaces and getting the farm’s goods into the world, but the hours spent at the stand do eat up a lot of precious time.
It's been pleasant watching all of the pollinators cruise around the farm, with different types of bees and butterflies utilizing our pollinator cover crop mix and flowering crops. The farm is most magical at either sunrise or sunset, when the world is quiet but the birds and insects are humming with activity. Another mystical moment occurred last week during an evening thunderstorm. Tyler and I were out picking cucamelons in the high tunnel. It was enjoyable to listen to the rain dance on the plastic, although I was a little leery about the lightening. When we opened the door to leave, we were greeted by a huge rainbow in the sky over our house. I had never seen full rainbow like that before.
In other news, we’ve had two fawns roaming nearby lately and while they are adorable, they are starting to become destructive. I had to quickly put up a makeshift fence around the second sweet corn planting to save it from their dinner grazing after seeing several of the plants knocked down and small ears of corn chewed off at the top. The hoof prints around the patch gave them away.
I just ordered some onion seed to try overwintering plants in the high tunnel. Now that I’ve deemed my inaugural onion crop a failure, it will be a goal of mine next year to work on improving in that area. Onions are such a staple crop; I feel like I must have them succeed.
Another goal for next year is to have more garlic on the landscape. Last fall I only planted 400 cloves, which I thought was a pretty good number, only to realize how few that actually is when I harvested it a few weeks ago. I would like to at least double what I had this season and potentially add a couple new varieties into the mix to try out.
Before I get too carried away thinking about next year already, I need to stop and enjoy the present time on the farm, which is the best part of the year for local eating, in my opinion. August through September offers so much variety in produce selection. There are still lettuces, cucumbers and greens available for a refreshing salad, but tomatoes and peppers are making their debuts. It’s about time for the first melons, sweet corn and ground cherries. Fresh potatoes, garlic and beans are back. Now is the time to fill your plate with in-season goodness! I’m grateful to be able to create dinners with all on-farm ingredients. There’s plenty of magic abound at this point of summer – enjoy it!