Worker member Kari Richmond up in a cherry tree
Happy Summer Solstice!
Let’s see…we’ve been working away over the past week; hoeing, planting, sowing seeds. I think we’re starting to hit our stride. The interns are getting much more familiar with what needs to happen and how it happens. The “how” is mostly them working really hard, with Vanessa or myself running around making sure everything is ready for the next project to begin the moment the previous one is completed. Vanessa and I do “work” quite a bit, but sometimes being a manager means, not doing the actually nuts & bolts of the job, but getting all the tools needed and giving the proper instruction to those who will. Often it’s much more fun actually doing the work.
It’s been raining out here quite often, though not that much rain has actually fallen. We have managed to time jobs with the rain, somewhat. We made up some more beds in the next field for more basil, cucumbers, beets & carrots, and sweet corn. We planted another bed of sunflowers (it seems like that’s all we do). The winter squash is looking good, so far. Last year it looked great, until it didn’t. One day the plants were huge, flowering, starting to make little squashes, the next day the plants had obviously gotten phytothera. Phytothera is a fungal-like organism and grows in the vascular tissue of many types of crops. The plants start to look droopy, like they need water. What’s actually happening is the phytothera is blocking the flow of water and nutrients in the vascular system, and will slowly or sometimes quickly kill the plants. Phytothera loves rainy weather.
The strawberries are basically finished, but the blueberries are in. As are the sour cherries! which are in your boxes this week, a first for the CSA.
Please return your CSA box next week. These boxes are waxed and are not recyclable, but we reuse them. So PLEASE remember to bring them back next week.