It’s Tuesday, and that means hosting our farmstore for both farm members and anyone who has questions, or wants to wander the farm. Come on out today, from 3-6pm to wander the fields, give a shout out to the crew, and pickup a melon. I continue to harvest anywhere from one hundred to four hundred pounds every day. The melon season is short, and melons are housed in our new fruit room for a day or two before they leave the farm. It’s a big wave that we are surfing, this peak season. The very few melons that split from the rain last week, in the field, we dry or freeze, as part of our own attempt to surf this wild ride before the melons end and we replace them with winter crops. As I write, the entire crew is picking strawberries right now, so I better get out to the field.
Melons, yup, we harvest them in tree bags! The bags got so heavy this year they both had a visit to Mary’s sewing machine.
Last week, while the melons really started, the crew planted winter chard that we will move a caterpillar over in the coming couple weeks before first frost.
Late summer carrots, just before we removed their protective insect netting before harvest.
It’s just 8, 100 foot beds, but this little melon garden, with soil built from cover crop and drip irrigation, really has taken off. Chard and kale plants border the upper part of the image.
Although a bit large, this crenshaw melon. This is one of our sweetest melons, both flora, with hints of mango, papaya, and the most flavorful spices you can think of. The melons are transplanted as early as possible, covered with row cover to keep them warm, and harvested just for a handful of weeks!