We are headed into our 12th week of shares here on the farm. We are in week I don't know what of no rain, which means irrigation is heavy on our mind. Lots of our fall crops need a good soaking, and while we are on the Kennebec and we can irrigate, moving water all over the farm is a feat. It must be moved up a twenty foot bank, often across (under) the road, then (sometimes) hundreds of meters down and through the fields. It also must be done with the tides (the Kennebec is tidal where we are located), so we irrigate early in the AM or later at night whenever the water is high. We currently irrigate 2 ways: 1) with overhead irrigation pipes - aluminum pipes that set up in a line through the rows of the plants. This type is used to water larger areas, crops that can handle water on their leaves, and crops that need lots of water. The upside is that the pipe is very durable and pressure regulation is less of a concern. The downside - hauling 30 foot pipe hundreds of feet through the field over and over to set it up, also water evaporates from the soil more quickly since it is watered top down.
2) Drip irrigation - drip is exactly what it sounds like - thin plastic tubing that runs under the soil that emits a small drip drip drip directly on the roots of the crop. This is more useful for crops that are grown on plastic mulch, are in high tunnels, and those who do not do well with wet leaves. The upsides are that once it is set up, it can be easy to run, no heavy pipes. The downsides, it's expensive, it's not reusable, is finicky, and it must be run often.
However you swing it, nothing compares to rain, and we desperately need it....
Purple Basil and the fun Basil Challenge
For one of our later plantings of basil this summer, we grew a type of purple basil called Dark Opal. We grow purple basil late in the season for two reasons: 1) because it's pretty and different, and 2) because purple basils are not susceptible to Basil Downy Mildew, which blows in from the south each year and decimates basil plantings, particularly (but not always) late season plantings. We have one more planting of basil in the ground now that is green, but the variety is new and bred to be resistant to downy mildew....we'll see how that goes.
The game! The fun part about this basil, is that about 10% of its plants actually come up green - most with purple spots. If you get a green basil send us a picture (preferably with you cooking it, but just a pic is fine) or tag us on instagram, or get us a picture any which way - we'll send you a dozen eggs (or a block of tofu for our plant based folks!) the following week.
Awesome extras this week:
Kennebec Highlands Caerphilly Cheese from Kennebec Cheesery - a take on the traditional Welsh cheese, sometimes called a Welsh cheddar, using raw goat milk from our herd and aged a minimum of 9 months. The golden rind opens up to a firm and slightly flaky white paste with a sharp, and slightly nutty profile. Delicious $9.00/block
Heiwa Tofu is BACK! Same delicious, local, organic tofu! $5.50/block
Don't forget to sign-up for our fall CSA!
Bi-weekly beginning week of October 5th through the week of November 16th (4 deliveries total)
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Customizable, just like summer shares!
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$144.00 for the whole season ($36.00/delivery) 7-10 vegetables - enough for two weeks of eating local!
All the delivery locations currently open this summer, will be the same through the fall, so it is just a continuation of summer deliveries at your convenient pick-up site.
SIGN-UP HERE: https://www.harvie.farm/signup/harvest-tide-organics
What to expect:
Our Autumn shares are designed to highlight vegetables that are at their peak in the fall. Crunchy leafy greens, winter squash, freshly harvested potatoes, frost sweetened broccoli, and more! Items in each share mostly have a longer storage life than the perishable fruit of summer, so you can expect a share to last you through two weeks of local eating.
Just like in the summer, you can add eggs, cheese, yogurt and more to your shares at sign-up or weekly as available.
