Belmont Acres Farm

Update for the Week of July 23rd

Dear CSA members,

The extreme hot weather is over for the moment, but we really need some rain. The hot weather stressed many of our crops. Several seedings we had in the field failed and need to be replanted because they failed to germinate in the heat. We are gearing up for a fall planting of cucumbers, zucchini, kale, collards, beets, beans, fennel, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips and carrots. Most of them are seeded in the hoop house and waiting to get planted in the fields. Do your rain dance so we can get them in this week!

Corn is almost ready, but the house sparrows are back. There are hundreds on the farm now. Last year they damaged over 1/3 of our corn crop. We are seeing significant raccoon damage on the border of the cornfield this year. Anybody want to guard the field?

Tomatoes are starting to turn red, a woodchuck damaged the first one. Hopefully it will share some with us. Beans are now in production and will be in shares this week.

Think Rain!

Update for the Week of July 16th and 20th

Dear CSA members,

Out of the frying pan and into the fire! We are not catching any relief from the weather this year, the heat and humidity takes a toll on all at the farm. The rain of June is a memory now. The fields are very dry and we are having to water almost continuously. Small scale farming in an urban setting is costly and long dry periods can raise operating cost considerably. We use drip line and it saves on water consumption, but it still costs money for materials and labor to set up. Another factor to consider is that it generates a lot of plastic waste. No such thing as a free lunch.

Beans should be ready to harvest soon and green peppers are fruiting as are tomatoes, these crops love the heat. We have cabbage and carrots making an appearance in shares this week. Lettuce is struggling, but we should be able to harvest enough heads this week.

Think cool thoughts!

To corn, or not to corn?

Warning: This post is long and has no pictures. It’s probably no fun at all.

Our sweet corn has come and gone. That’s right – within a 5 day span, we started harvesting, finished harvesting, and mowed it down. “WHAT!?” You may ask, “LUDICROUS!” you may rave. How, you’re wondering, did you not even get to taste it? Well, to find out, you first have to waddle through some of my rantings.

Disclaimer: I do not have an especially positive relationship with corn. Scratch that, I have an extremely negative relationship with corn. In fact, I pretty much LOATHE corn. So, read on with that in mind, and accept that I am very biased.

Continue reading “To corn, or not to corn?”

Week of July 9th CSA Update

It has been a brutally HOT and HUMID week! This weather is hard on plants, animals and people. Picking, storing and keeping the produce looking fresh takes much effort on these days.

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The cauliflower we planted, covered with agribon and weeded several times did not produce before the heat and is in such bad shape, we won’t be able to put it shares. The heads are yellowing and splitting even at a very small size. Much of our lettuce has bolted, but we still have some varieties holding in the field. We plant diversity to mediate risk, but when we a lose crop, we lose the resources we put into the crop as well as the ability to put it in the shares.

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Other crops flourish in the heat, for example zucchini is now in high production and will make its first appearance in your basket this week. Cobbler new potatoes will also be in shares this week. The tomato crop looks good so far and the sweet corn is tasseling and silking up, we will keep you posted on their progress as the season moves along. We harvested garlic and shallots last week and they are curing in the barn. String beans and cucumbers are flowering and starting to produce and should be showing up in shares soon.

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Think cool thoughts!

The challenges of seasonality

The weather of the past week has proven one thing for sure – summer is upon us! Scorching days of 90 degree heat that seems to radiate from the ground beneath us and a humidity that makes you melt in the shade have made us all question our sanity, but the hope is that it turns our laborious efforts into a fruitful summer. As we dredge up all our strength to wake up in the morning and attempt some sort of productivity in spite of the inhospitable climate, we are rewarded with the sight of ripening tomatoes, flowering eggplants, thirst quenching cucumbers and zucchini that seems to triple in size overnight. Yup, there’s no doubt about it – summer has arrived!

While summer traditionally is a period marked by juicy tomatoes and sweet corn, it also means the end of some of our more delicate spring crops. Spinach is a distant memory, lettuce browns and wilts in the hot days, and our more cool-tolerant brassicas have decided to just give up. Most traumatic to me, however, is the passing of sugar snap peas as we pulled the remnants of the plants up this weekend in order to pave the way for summer crop planting. It was all I could do to scavenge the last few perfectly plump peas as we piled our compost high with the plant matter. Despite my desperation at clinging to the last few remnants of spring, I can’t say these peapods were especially tasty. As the plants get stressed, the fruit gets tougher and significantly less sweet. What I find most intriguing is that my tastes have started to fluctuate with seasons as well – after the first harvest I ate nearly 2 pounds in the course of a 1 hour flight, and now have to actively try to eat a handful.

Continue reading “The challenges of seasonality”