Last Sprint to the Finish

You Say Potato, I Say YUM

On Friday we dug the first, of ten beds of sweet potatoes.  I am very pleased with how they are looking this year.  They have shaped up nicely, not too many long snaky noodle potatoes.   This bed was free of scurf – a fungal infection that doesn’t hurt the potatoes but does make the skin look splotchy and discolored (it’s been ubiquitous in years past).  The yield is decent.  Slightly lower than what we aim for, but the sweet potatoes did get planted a little later than usual this year.  Less time to grow means lower yield.  There is some vole damage, but there is always vole damage so I’m not going to sweat it.  CSA members and market shoppers can look forward to sharing in an abundant harvest.

Last Sprint To The Finish

We have a few more weeks of frenzied activity.  Just a few.  There are a couple big, time-sensitive tasks between us and the more mellow pace of fall.  Digging the sweet potatoes, planting strawberries, prepping and planting the rest of the high tunnels.  Randy probably has a few things on his mental list of urgent tasks, too.  Then things start to relax a little.  Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.  If you’ve been wanting to come out to the farm and lend a hand now would be a great time.  We are short on hands and long on work!

Snake Sightings

Prepping the high tunnel has been made slightly more complicated by our resident cottonmouth.  On Monday – after keeping an eye on it for a week – I though the snake was finally gone, so Anna and I spent a few hours clearing out beds for new plantings.  When we were finished, Anna was showing me where she had found the snake’s skin.  She stepped onto some landscape fabric and out came our friend, sleek and shiny from the recent molt.   Surprise!  I have since moved a bunch of fabric and mowed around the tunnels and now I am really hoping the snake has moved on.

Carrot Update

The carrots are looking good.  At least from what we can see above the ground.  I expect the first carrot harvest to be in mid to late October.  I know that is longer than you want to wait.  It’s longer than I want to wait, too.  But the good news it that we have plenty of carrots out there.  So when they are ready, we are looking forward to sharing in abundance.

Full Shares

• Sweet potatoes
• Juliet tomatoes
• Okra
• Beans or eggplant
• Arugula
• salad mix

Small Shares

• Sweet potatoes
• Squash or zucchini or cucumbers
• Beans or radishes
• Arugula
• salad mix