farm updates

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

Farm Update July 23, 2016

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We have had some spectacular skies this last week or so; you can see a small sample in the images.

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Our tomato plants are finally cranking out a decent amount to harvest now. The tomato hornworms are thick on the plants, so we have been picking them off every morning. They are hard to see at first until your eyes get dialed in and then it is pretty easy to find them. Of course it is really clear where to look for the fat worms because they strip all the leaves and small branches from the plants, so there are lots of bare branches where they have been.

The date for the Agustín Kitchen farm dinner has been changed. Please pardon any inconvenience this may cause. The dinner will be in the evening on Sunday, August 21.

This weekend is the Tomato & Basil Festival at the Rillito market, so if you like tomatoes and/or basil check out the market Sunday morning.

 

Farm Update July 16, 2016

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Where is the rain? We’re waiting on it – not so patiently. I am simulating the monsoon in the field by watering with sprinklers during the heat of the day. That makes it nice and humid in the field and a little bit cooler than the surrounding desert.

Our cucumber vines are finally producing! The variety we are growing this summer is Suyo Long, originating in northern China. These cukes are slightly spiny, but the skins are pretty thin and the flesh is sweet and crunchy. We should be bringing these to the market for a couple months. We are growing this variety this summer because they are resistant to cucumber beetle damage and are also resistant to the bacterial wilt that the cucumber beetles spread. Last year the beetles wiped out our cucumber and melon plants, so we have changed our varieties and some of our cultivation practices. For example, this spring we started the cucumber plants in pots and transplanted them after they were fairly large. This prevents the cuke beetles from killing the seedlings as they sprout.

The blackberries are almost finished; we should be able to harvest a few pounds over the next 2 weeks, but no more large harvests.

As mentioned in an earlier newsletter, Agustín Kitchen will be hosting a farm dinner using our produce. The dinner will be in the evening on Sunday, August 7. We will send out a flyer later this week, plus make announcements on Facebook and on Instagram @southwindsfarmaz.

Send some rain our way !!

The Middle Terrace of our field
The Middle Terrace of our field

Farm Update July 9, 2016

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We are back at it after a short mid-summer break. I hope you had a great 4th of July holiday.

We’ve had some decent amounts of rain over the last ten days and the plants are growing apace. Of course the weeds are also growing like crazy. I spent much of yesterday weeding with some volunteer helpers while Sam and Steve harvested produce.

Our summer squash plants are producing pounds and pounds of zucchini, flying saucer patty pan and Benning’s green tint patty pan squash. The cucumber plants are finally fruiting; we trellised the plants yesterday and picked a few early cukes – we will have these at the market within 2 weeks.

If you are a user of social media, you may be interested to know that SouthWinds Farm now has a Facebook page and we are also posting on Instagram @southwindsfarmaz.

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Sam and Steve picking purple beans
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Bennings green tint squash
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Squash blossoms on the zucchini plant

Farm Update June 25, 2016

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As you can see from the images, some of our summer crops are finally starting to come in. And it’s about time !! We got a bit behind in the late spring planting due to a shortage of help on the farm – familiar theme.

We are still looking for help on harvest days (Tuesday, Friday and Saturday) or other days, if you are interested. If you know anyone who might want to work with us, please send them to see us at the markets or pass along my email address joe@southwindsfarm.org. Anyone who helps us out will go home with a share of delicious, fresh, organic produce. Thank you in advance for passing along this request for assistance.

We survived the heatwave and so did the crops. It has been mostly cloudy for days out here, which makes for pleasant working conditions. The monsoon is trying to start up, teasing us with virga and sprinkles as it does for weeks every summer before the full monsoon kicks in to gear.

We are excited to be hosting a farm visit from most of the chefs, servers and other staff of The Coronet and Agustín Kitchen this upcoming Monday morning. It looks like we will have a group of 20 or so people checking out the source of some of their ingredients. Should be a fun morning !

Agustín Kitchen will be hosting a special event in early August featuring SouthWinds Farm produce. As the planning for this dinner proceeds, we will provide more details.

As a reminder, we will be taking a short Independence Day break and we will not be delivering CSA shares, nor will we be attending the markets on July 3 (Rillito) and July 6 (Green Valley).

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Corno di toro sweet peppers
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Purple bush beans
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Plum tomatoes

Farm Update June 18, 2016

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Our potatoes are almost ready for harvest! In the images you can see a potato plant before I dug it up, the same plant with potatoes still attached and some baby new potatoes harvested for the CSA shares. We will soon have potatoes in the markets available for everyone.

Yesterday we finally finished putting up the shade cloth over the tomatoes, chiles, sweet peppers and cucumber plants. I rented a power t-post driver and that saved us a lot of work. More than half of middle terrace in the field is now shaded with a 30% shade cloth. It is noticeably cooler under the shade in the heat of the day. We will augment the shade with water sprinklers during the upcoming heatwave to keep the temperatures reasonable for the plants (and for us as we work in the field).

In case you don’t receive the Heirloom Farmers’ Markets emails — the Sunday market at Rillito this weekend (19 June) will open at 7a and close around 11a due to the expected extreme heat.

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Potato plant before harvest
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After harvest
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Baby new potatoes