Summer Rain’s

Summer Rain’s
Ann (R) and Josephine (L) trellising tomatoes. We use a modified Florida weave
Ann (R) and Josephine (L) trellising tomatoes. We use a modified Florida weave

Did you know that besides Hawaii, Mississippi is the state with the highest annual rainfall?  Good thing July is such a reliably dry month so that we can get the lion’s share of our summer tractor work done.  Ha!  Joke’s on us!  This year July gave us five and a half inches of rain.   We need dry weather to prepare beds for late summer crops and all our fall and winter crops.  I’m sure we’ve got some bottlenecks coming our way – too many fall crops to plant and nowhere to put them – but we will cross that bridge when we get there!  Nothing like kicking your problems down the road a bit.  There is dry weather on the horizon so hopefully we can catch up.  We shouldn’t complain because with all the severe storms blowing around we have been spared from hail, high winds (other than the storm that took out a tunnel in the spring), and extended power outages.

The farm is a wild weedy beast at the end of July.  Definitely not Instagram ready.  The first planting of tomatoes is dead and dying, and its time to start clearing things out.  The sweet potato patch is in particular disarray this year, even though we mulched it thoroughly.   I’m hoping we have time to weed it enough to get a decent harvest.  Clean as you go, not when you are through, as they say.  So even as we are seeding and planting and growing and harvesting, we are clearing out the crops that have finished producing.  I actually really enjoy taking down tomato trellis and pulling out drip tape.  I enjoy cleaning the field much more than I enjoy cleaning the house!

The last day of the summer share will be August 16th for Wednesday members and August 19th for Saturday folks.  Then we have a two week gap where we will not be providing CSA shares until the fall share starts.  The fall share will begin September 6th for Wednesday members and September 9th for Saturday members.   We do plan to be at the Cooper Young Community Farmers Market on Saturday August 26th and September 2nd.  We have decided to build a gap into our schedule this year because late August tends to be the hardest time of the year to fill the shares.  And it stresses me out like wild.  So hopefully this will be a little less anxiety inducing.

Small Shares

  • Slicing tomatoes
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Juliet tomatoes
  • Sweet peppers
  • Cantaloupe
  • Cucumber or eggplant

Full Shares

  • Slicing tomatoes
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Juliet tomatoes
  • Sweet peppers
  • Squash
  • Zucchini
  • Okra
  • Basil