Farm Update October 1, 2016

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The end of the monsoon delivered nearly an inch of rain at the farm – 0.85″ in the last week. The total rainfall at the farm since late June is 8.01″ – a pretty good rainy season this year.

Lately we have planted two types of beets, onions, carrots, lettuce mix, salad mix and radishes. Today and tomorrow we will get in the parsnips, rutabagas, kales and various greens.

We have started removing the shadecloth from the growing beds in preparation for the fall and winter growing season.

If you have signed up for the fall/winter CSA season, your email address will be added to the next CSA newsletter email distribution list and you will start receiving emails in a few weeks.

As mentioned in earlier newsletters, if you would like to sign up for our next CSA season, we will continue taking payments/reservations for our 16-week fall/winter CSA share program, deliveries for which will begin the middle of November and run through the middle of March 2017. Shares will cost $250 for 16 weekly deliveries. We will have the forms at the markets this weekend and they are also available on our website, here.

okra plants full of blooms
okra plants full of blooms
Okra plants full of blooms
watermelons are almost ready

 

Farm Update September 24, 2016

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We have made it though another summer! The autumnal equinox was Thursday and we are looking forward to increasingly cool weather.

The cooler temperatures will provide the right growing conditions for our fall and winter crops like the root vegetables including carrots, beets, parsnips, and rutabagas. We will also have broccoli, cauliflower and a great variety of greens such as kales, mustards, lettuces, among others. Over the next month we will also be harvesting some winter storage crops like the sweet potatoes and butternut squash.

If you are interested in signing up for our next CSA season, we will continue taking payments/reservations for our 16-week fall/winter CSA share program, deliveries for which will begin the last weekend of October and run through the end of February 2017. Shares will cost $250 for 16 weekly deliveries.We will have the forms at the markets this weekend and they are also available on our website, here.

Please let us know if you are interested in signing up!

squash and watermelon beds
squash and watermelon beds

Farm Update September 17, 2016

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We had a very nice rain event when the remains of Hurricane Newton passed through, receiving 1.34in of soft, gentle rain that soaked in nicely. Since then it rained a couple more times, so we are just below the 30-year average to-date for the monsoon. It is starting to feel like fall with cool mornings, but we are hoping for one more chance at some monsoon rainfall.

As mentioned last week, we are nearing the end of the spring/summer CSA share deliveries – the last deliveries will be September 25 at Rillito and September 28 at Green Valley.

For those of you interested in signing up for the next round, this weekend/week we will begin taking payments/reservations for our 16-week fall/winter CSA share program, deliveries for which will begin the last weekend of October and run through the end of February 2017. Shares will cost $250 for 16 weekly deliveries. We will have the forms at the markets this weekend and they are also available on our website, here. Please let us know if you are interested in signing up!

Thank you for supporting local, sustainable, organic agriculture in southern Arizona !

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baby butternut squash
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watermelon hiding

Farm Update September 10, 2016

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I hope you had a great holiday weekend. We caught up on some much-needed rest. We did a little work harvesting for our restaurant and store customers, but mainly took it fairly easy for the week.

We are back at it now and working apace to get our fall planting done. We are planting plenty of root vegetables – carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, cippolini onions, Iitoi’s onions, various types of beets, among others. We are also going to put in some fall broccoli, kales, Romaine lettuces, other head lettuces and collard greens, along with some other interesting greens.

As a reminder, we are nearing the end of the spring/summer CSA share deliveries – the last deliveries will be September 25 at Rillito and September 28 at Green Valley.

For those of you interested in signing up for the next round, this weekend/week we will begin taking payments/reservations for our 16-week fall/winter CSA share program, deliveries for which will begin the last weekend of October and run through the end of February 2017. Shares will cost $250 for 16 weekly deliveries. We will have the forms at the markets and also put them up on our website. Please let us know if you are interested in signing up!

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lunchbox peppers
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ripe jalapeños
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purple & white eggplant

Farm Update Aug 27, 2016

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The images in this newsletter are some night driptape irrigation art. As you may know, we use driptape to irrigate our beds. The tape we use has slits every 8 inches that drip water at a slow rate (0.67 gallons per minute per 100 feet of tape). The driptape applies the water right at the ground surface, which helps to minimize evaporation and water wastage. Depending on the particular crop in the bed, we space the tapes at different distances to optimize water delivery to the plants. Some plants occasionally receive topwatering with a hose or sprinklers, depending on the crop, stage of growth and ambient temperature. In June when it is really hot and very dry, we will run sprinklers in the heat of the day to cool down the plants and to create some humidity in the field.

We are starting to plant the fall/winter root crops. We will put in beets, carrots, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips and various onions, including cippolini.

We are also doing some final planting of summer squash, hoping to get in one more crop before it gets too cool.

Our chiles are starting to ripen. We have jalapeños, Sinajuisa (similar to serrano) and a small New Mexico type green/red chile named Jarales. The Sinajuisa and Jarales seeds were obtained from Native Seed/Search; this is the first time we have grown these two chile varieties and we are excited to find out how they taste. We also have a few poblano chile plants – not as many as last year, but we will have a few to sell.

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Farm Update August 20, 2016

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Our challenge of the week is the bugs – harlequin bugs, western striped cucumbers, spotted cucumber beetles and grasshoppers. These insects are feasting on our vegetables. One of the reasons we have so many is that our weeds got out of control and many of the bugs are hosted by the weeds. The harlequin bugs really like the amaranth which is everywhere in our field. The bugs will get a share of the production until it gets too cold for them to live and that is some months away.

Our eggplants are really starting to produce. We have four kinds growing – the standard Italian variety and three small ones that are purple, white and mixed. We will be bringing all the varieties to the market in the weeks to come.

Our mouse melons are also growing well. We had a few at the market last Sunday and hope to have them at both markets for several weeks going forward.

We have started the planning for our winter CSA, developing a list of vegetables and varieties to grow. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.

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Farm Update August 13, 2016

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Our greens production is back up – not back to normal amounts, but there is enough for our CSA shareholders , some for the markets and a bit for our restaurant customers. We hope to have greens continuously from now on.

The other thing that is up is the weeds. WOW are they ever cranking. We are not keeping up with clearing them out, but we work on it some every day.

We received some good news from the NRCS and USDA this morning – our grant application for a high tunnel received final approval. The funds were obligated in the spring, but it has taken awhile to get the approval for engineering aspects of the project. A high tunnel is a greenhouse structure. Ours will be 30 feet wide by 150 feet long. This will allow us to extend our growing seasons and increase production. Our plan is to use it as a greenhouse in the winter and as a shade structure in the summer. We hope to construct the high tunnel this fall before the weather turns cold. We will host some weekend and weekday work sessions. If you are interested in helping with the construction, please let us know. We will also keep you informed as our construction planning proceeds.

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Salad mix
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Mizuna

 

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The WEEDS !!

Farm Update Aug 6, 2016

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It has been raining everywhere around us, but not at the farm. Since July 28 we have had only about 0.4″ of rain – less than a half-inch. It has been frustrating to watch it pour down in all directions, but just barely hit us. This is a good example of the spatially discontinuous nature of the monsoon rains. Maybe today.

Despite the lack of precipitation, it has been nice and humid; plus we have had several cloudy and cool days. These conditions are great for our crops, so they have been growing well.

The farm dinner at Agustín Kitchen has been postponed again, probably until sometime in late September or October. Please pardon the changing dates as we work with the restaurant to find a date that works for all parties involved. We will keep you informed as the planning proceeds.

In the meantime, we will be getting ready for the fall planting. Samantha, our summer intern, has finished her internship and returned to Las Cruces for the fall semester. We thank her for her help this summer! Steve is hanging in and putting in a lot of hours with me as we take up the slack. We have commitments from one person to start the first week of September, a wwoofer who says he will probably be here the last week of August, and a several applicants for fall internships. Bear with us as we bear down. (As Wildcat who spent 15 years studying at the UofA, I just couldn’t resist that reference 😉

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Corno di toro Italian sweet peppers
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Baby okra

Farm Update July 30, 2016

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We just finished trellising the tomato plants. It was a marathon effort that needed over a half-mile of twine, applied about 10 feet at a time. We got behind on the trellising and the plants just exploded in growth with the monsoon humidity. After many person-hours (60?) we finally finished the job early this morning before we started harvesting.

The Italian flat beans are coming! Also known as Romano green beans, they are very tasty – delicious raw or cooked. We should have a few at the market this week and many more in the weeks to come.

Our eggplant are also blooming. They went in a bit late, but have started to put on many blooms.

One additional crop that is starting to come in is the okra. I saw the first flower yesterday as we were weeding that bed.

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Romano green beans
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New bed of Iitoi’s onions
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Amaranth