We got our cherry tomato plants in the ground this week! We interplanted the tomatoes with sweet alyssum, a low-growing plant that will produce small, white flowers all season and attract beneficial insects, including braconid wasps. These tiny parasitic wasps help us manage our biggest tomato pest--the tomato hornworm. The wasps lay their eggs under the skin of the hornworms and, after the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on the hornworm from the inside out. Talk about nature’s way of keeping the pests at bay! This is just one of the ways we’re experimenting with how to partner with our resident beneficial insects.
The cherry tomatoes and sweet alyssum went into a hoop house that already has beets growing, and the hoop next door is home to a nice looking crop of carrots. Fingers crossed, the beets and carrots will be ready for our first week of main season CSA deliveries. This time of year you’ll hear Zach use the word "hopefully" when talking about the readiness of all sorts of green things, and that’s such a great word to consider. Who doesn’t want to be full of hope and optimism--especially when we’re talking about things like cherry tomatoes?
One of the best parts of CSA is the fact that you’re eating food that is harvested when it’s at its best. Our tomatoes ripen on the vine and are picked when they’re ready to be eaten. There’s a reason the tomatoes from the farm taste better than the ones you buy at the grocery. Produce travels an average distance of 1,500 miles to the grocery store before we even take it home. Our farm shares travel an average of 22.46 miles to get from the farm to you. That’s quite a difference!
Farm shares are still available! We’d really appreciate it if you'd tell your family, friends, and neighbors about the Hawkins Farm CSA. And don't forget about our referral program, which adds credit to your account AND the accounts of the people you refer! If you’re not sure what to say about the CSA, check out the REFER A FRIEND tab on your Harvie Profile. There are some helpful sample texts and prompts that you can use when talking about our farm share program. We’re hopeful that we will fill all our shares this upcoming season. With a community like ours, who wouldn’t be?
