With temperatures well into the 90s this week, last week’s rain seems a distant memory. The longer that our cool and foggy “coastal summer” weather can be delayed, however, the sooner we’ll be able to enjoy our favorite summer crops: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and green beans. We are at the cusp of getting started with our caneberry harvest; some shares will be getting the first blackberries this week and raspberries are not far behind. The spinach is looking really nice; broccoli, lettuce and leafy greens continue in abundance. With squash, pickling cucumbers and basil in the shares, you know that summer is imminent. But why aren’t there any tomatoes if we have basil already? Fair question! Since basil grows a lot faster than tomatoes, we planted a couple successions of it. This is only the first planting; by the time the tomatoes kick in, sometime in July, we should have another planting of basil ready for harvest.
It’s going to be a busy week; in addition to getting the farm ready for our Solstice Celebration (see below), we are planting a large block of winter squash. No I am not delirious, it’s just that most of the varieties we plant take over 100 days to mature, so we have to think ahead (way ahead). The last succession of tomatoes just got planted. We are falling behind on thinning our Fuji apples, however all the Galas are done and sizing up nicely. Weeding is getting under control, but lots of tomatoes need to be tied and trellised.
But this Saturday we are taking a short break from field work for our 17th Annual Live Earth Farm Solstice Celebration. We hope you will take a break too, from whatever you’re doing, and join us! This event is always lots of fun. After the tractor rides, you’ll likely find me dancing around the fire to Kuzanga Marimba’s amazing tunes and rhythms. And once night settles in we will have a surprise performance by one of our long ago farm interns – so stick around, you won’t want to miss it!
