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The rest of the solanaceous crops are doing amazing this year, so you can expect eggplant and peppers starting very soon. The past few weeks have been rough; with the continued drought (now being called 'severe' by the National Weather Service) and the extreme heat, general morale has been rather low. The closer-to- normal temperatures of last week, plus the arrival of tomatoes, have done much to brighten our spirits up here, not to mention giving our chief field workers Kai and Corky a small break from moving irrigation pipe. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, the white ground fabric that we put down in the hoops has helped our tomatoes tremendously. Kurt, the farm manager, reports that the reflective fabric makes as much as a 10 or 11 degree difference in daytime highs in the hoops by keeping the heat from the soil. The difference between 90 and 100 is critical to overall plant health and tomato production. 

 

We are also well into our fall planting. Our winter squash has almost completely outgrown the insect pressure and while we lost more plants to cucumber beetles than anyone would like to see, we also planted more than we normally would have so we're still hopeful for good yields. Carrots and rutabagas are germinating in the field (and Kurt will be planting another almost acre of carrots, turnips, radishes and beets over the next two weeks). The first of the fall kale, broccoli and cabbage was transplanted on Thursday and Friday and we have another half acre worth of cabbage, chard and broccoli starts growing in starter cells and waiting for a break in the heat to be transplanted. 

 

The box this week contains several firsts. We have the first basil, not large amounts but a little; we're planning on pesto-worthy amounts next week. This week you'll also receive the first of the chives. Chives are a perennial and we planted them this spring to be able to have them early next spring, but they are doing so well we decided to harvest some now. If you can't use all the fresh herbs in any given week, consider drying or other methods of preserving to store some for winter (see Recipes, left).   

 

The balance of the box has Sungolds for all, small spicy heads of cabbage, onions, garlic and summer broccoli. This week also has the last of the chard for a bit. Chard doesn't deal well with temperatures much over 85, and ours has been just barely hanging in for weeks now. We decided to get this last harvest off of it and plant new. It will be another week or two before the chard we started from seed is big enough to transplant into the field, and then another 6 weeks or so until it is ready to harvest, but it will be back by mid to late September for the remainder of the fall. 

 

All in all, things could be worse. We are happy that we haven't had to skip deliveries this year (a few farms in the area have had to skip a week already this year). We continue to hope for more moderate temperatures, but in the meantime are drinking lots of water and working shorter days when necessary. Stay hydrated and we'll all get through it. 

 

 

temperatures; at the farm it's been stored post-harvest in our old cooler which we are keeping at around 50 degrees for tomatoes.  Because everything else in the box is packed at 33 degrees, you might notice some condensation on the basil when you receive it.  Simply take it out of the bag and let it mellow on your counter to dry off for a half hour or so before storing it in a cool (not cold!) and dry area.