Hot and steamy sunshine during the past week helped dry up the fields a bit between one downpour and the next. The plants greened up a little and put on a lot of nice top growth. But after yesterday’s heavy rain we’re back to standing water in the pathways and looking at a dreary forecast of 2 to 4 more inches by tomorrow afternoon with no clear weather on the horizon.
We’re struggling to keep up with planting when the fields are regularly too wet to get into with equipment or even a hand seeder. We did manage with a quick, sweaty effort by all to bring in about 300 bales of hay on Saturday under menacing skies. We were forced to throw tarps on the wagons and abandon the field about 30 bales shy of finishing when the rain finally showed up.
It was nice to get all of the finicky equipment out after a winter’s storage and see that it was all in good working order, primed and ready for the next sunny chance. We are managing to make a lot of progress on the barn in the meantime, and keeping the desk relatively clear of paperwork, though I’d prefer to be out in the fields.
Goodbye Doug
We are sadly saying goodbye to Doug tomorrow as he returns to his regular job at St. Lawrence University. We are going to be a bit lost without him here, as we rely on him hugely to help out with everything that comes up in the course of a day. Not least of which, lunch, which he has bravely been preparing for the hungry farm crew five days a week.
In the Farm Shares
In the veggie share: peas, spinach, napa cabbage, rhubarb, lettuce heads, loose-leaf lettuce, arugula, radishes, sweet and tender baby carrots, dry beans and cornmeal. Swiss chard and bunching onions next week.
In the meat share: whole and half broiler chickens, pork and beef.
Related articles
- Full and By Farm: Harvest Woes (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Full and By Farm: Oversaturation (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- DaCy Meadow Farm Brunch (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
- Essex Farm: Jewel in a Swamp (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
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