sweet potato slips

Farm Update May 6, 2017

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We started harvesting extra early this morning to beat the heat. By around 5:30a we were working in the field. We will stop by about 1pm and take a break until 6pm, then work until a little after dark.

On Wednesday we put in 77 t-posts to support our trellises in the high tunnel. We should have the high tunnel fully planted within about 2 weeks if all goes well.

There are tiny berries on the blackberry bushes. Our plan is to put the shadecloth and bird netting up by the end of May, hopefully sooner.

Right now we are in the transition between the spring crops and the summer crops, so we will have a bit less variety at the market, but we will have plenty of greens, beets, carrots, cabbage, kale and onions.

The spring/summer CSA share distribution will start in about 2 weeks – May 14 at Rillito and May 15 in Green Valley. We still have shares available. If you know of anyone who might be interested, send them our way! The forms are available at the markets, and in the CSA box on the right sidebar of this website, and here. We will stick with a 50-share program this round, so please let us know if you are interested in a spot. The summer shares will include potatoes, blackberries, tomatoes, peppers, chiles, flowers, cucumbers,  melons, okra, squash, salad mixes, among many other delicious ingredients.

sweet potato slips

Farm Update April 30, 2016

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The sweet potato slips arrived! They came in a box in the regular mail. I put them into a cup of water as soon as I unpacked them. As you can see in the image, they aren’t much to look at, but they will quickly start to grow once they get in the ground. Sweet potato slips are pretty tough and will grow into fine plants even when they are in rough shape. We will prepare the bed by ripping it deeply and amending with peat and sulfur to help lower the pH of the bed, along with some very well-aged goat manure. The slips then will be planted about 18in apart in a bed that is between our two red potato beds so that when the regular potatoes are harvested, the sweet potato plants can spread out and have plenty of room to grow. The plants will spread out to cover an area 8 feet on either side of the bed. Then in about 4 months we will dig the bounty! This planting should yield a thousand pounds of sweet potatoes or more if the environmental factors cooperate.

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We are continuing the sign-up for the late spring/summer CSA share program. It will consist of 16 weeks of deliveries to the markets starting the third week. of May and continuing into September. The cost will be $250. We will have the signup forms at our farm stands and available online. Please let us know if you’d like to reserve a spot or if you have any friends/coworkers/neighbors who are interested.