August is a tired, sweaty month. We're tired from the endless harvest days, and constant fall plantings. There's a light at the end of it all, because we know that cold, short days are coming. The expression "you have to make hay when the sun shines" reverberates in my head this time of year. There's only so long that we have long sunny days, and we have to use them strategically.
We've had a difficult time with many crops this year, mostly due to the quality of the soil and our bed-making process. The soil needs a lot of amending and beds have to be flipped (turned over to make room for a new crop) as we have a limited growing area. The process we have to make beds currently is time-consuming, and that has created a bottleneck in our planting schedule. Most direct seeded crops, like greens, cilantro/dill, beans, beets, and carrots, have been challenging this year. There are more bean plantings coming on, cilantro and dill, and more plantings of carrots, so those will back on the list soon. I hope to have a fall planting of beets seeded in the next few days (and there's some out in the field yet), so you'll see these again in fall.
I'm watching the watermelons and cantaloupes in the field closely, they will be appearing in shares in a couple of weeks! We planted two varieties of watermelon, a seedless and a seeded. It's our first time growing seedless so we're excited to see how they do.
We're up to our ears in tomatoes, which you'll notice on the harvest list this week. If you're looking to make sauce before the season closes, it's getting to be that time! You'll also see husk cherries (also known as ground cherries or Cape gooseberries) on the list. Husk cherries are little sweet fruits inside of a paper husk (like a tomatillo). They're sort of a cross between a cherry tomato, a grape, and a pineapple.
If you're interested in our t-shirt and bumper sticker pre-order, we'll be announcing details in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for that. We'll include a link to order in this weekly email.
AND, of course, if you have not yet signed up for your fall CSA share, now is the time! We'd love to keep growing for you this fall. The share is 8 weeks, September through November, all three sizes are available.
