On the Farm

And the rain continues. We are spending a lot of time wet and muddy. The insect world seems to like it though as bugs are everywhere! Creepy crawlies, flying gnats and mosquitos, spiders, you name it – we got it. Yuck!

The extra moisture is affecting the pepper harvest. They begin to ripen red or yellow then many rot before they finish turning. And because it has been hard to get seeds in the soil for the winter crops, we have been planting in seed flats thinking we can transplant the seedlings later.

In fact, I’m sitting in front of my window typing this newsletter, our power out, while rain pours and thunder rumbles on the other side of it. Forecasters predict more of the same for the next couple days. It feels like a “go back to bed” day - but that isn’t an option.

With the start of fall and winter not far behind, we feel like there is much to do. We want to get out and work in the fields. It is time to add compost to the season’s finished fields. We are still experiencing small-size produce (see the acorn squash in your box this week). Several fields need more organic matter to amend our soil. When we expanded our production both last year and this year, we converted a couple acres of our decade long hay field into vegetable gardens.

The hay field or more accurately the soil beneath was kind of worn out from years of compacted by machinery being driven over and our benign neglect. We hadn’t been soil testing or adding anything to it (on a good note – we weren’t using any pesticides either). So we are still in the process of enriching it to grow nice-size, nutrient-dense vegetables. But again, the wetness of the fields is holding us up. There is still time, but we’d both feel better if it would dry out a little.

With the power still out, I’m going to wrap this up and go help Bill finish getting boxes packed up in the very dark pack shed in an effort to be timely with deliveries today.