Thank you to all who have participated in our mid-season survey. We appreciate your feedback and ideas to make the CSA the best it can be. We are reading your submissions daily and will keep the survey link open and paper copies in the share room for one more week. After next week, we will be addressing some of the most common questions and concerns through the blog and in the share room. Your kind words of understanding during the severe drought and the support for our farm team has been greatly appreciated. Thank you.
While the farm camp was wrapping up its last week, we had the pleasure of being featured on NECN's Making the Grade series. Check out the link to see our farm camp in action: link to watch online! We will miss the farm campers and the life they brought to the farm each day and can't wait to see many of them back on the farm this fall on school trips or at Family Farm Day on September 18th.
Speaking of kids... Do you have some teenagers who need to keep busy before school starts? Send them over to help us stack our winter wood piles! We are also looking for some volunteer landscape gardeners to help keep up the garden beds around the store, Old House, and Dairy Barn neat and tidy. We're also looking for another handyman/property steward and help in the dairy barn. If you're interested in any of these volunteer opportunities or for more information, email the farm at appletonfarms@thetrustees.orgThe Share:
Potatoes
Leeks
Peppers
Squash
Lettuce
Garlic
Chard
Carrots
From the Fields:
I posted this drought
map several weeks ago. Check out the neat slide comparison tool to
track the progress of the drought over time. We have official entered
“Extreme Drought” conditions. Hooray!?
The tomatoes are taking their time in ripening up as they
seem to do every year. We really need them to be ready for next week in
order to fill out the share and because I know how happy everyone will be to
see them. Nature doesn’t take advice from me unfortunately, so we will
most likely be forced to wait another week before tomatoes join the
share. The tomato plants have been given the highest watering priority
through the drought and heat waves but have never the less still been
impacted. Most of the vines are looking extremely healthy if a bit
stunted and the fruit sets have been erratic but my hope is that this will not
have a dramatic effect on the yield or harvest window for these plants.
Eggplants have not been so lucky. I’m actually very resentful that, in
spite of a tremendous amount of effort and resources allocated to the
eggplants, they continue to be contrary and unproductive. One in every 5
plants has a single fruit or blossom. The rest just sit out there;
stunted, tip burnt and extremely irritating. It doesn’t help that last
season at this time of year we were harvesting twice a week and bringing in
50-60 bushels with each harvest. Our last harvest yielded 4
bushels. I took pictures to document last years harvest and this one.
We have been cultivating extensively after last weeks
rain. The soil stayed moist for several days which allowed plenty of time
for weeds to germinate. It has been a pleasure to work in the soil again
without having to inhale quite so much of it. We are in race to weed and
cultivate as many beds as possible before it becomes too dusty. The fall
brassicas have been getting quite a bit of attention as have the
lettuces. Our final extra large beans planting actually germinated
(somewhat) and has survived against the odds so we have set to work hand weeding
the beds. With any luck our members should get at least one decent bean
haul this year.
We have also been planting as much as possible this past
week with the weather finally favoring us a bit and with the window for fall
plantings closing. Lettuce, fennel and celery went into the ground in the
beginning of the week and I am hopeful that we will get chard and Chinese
cabbage into the ground today. The greens we seeded two weeks ago popped
up and were almost immediately devoured by flea beetles. Believe it or
not we hadn’t been seeing much flea beetle damage prior to this so it was a
nasty surprise. With our next planting we will try a combination of
organic deterrents and row cover. Normally we wouldn’t dedicate this much
attention to fall greens but they have taken on a greater importance this year
with the success of our late season crops still uncertain.
If you were unable to fill out the survey online or in the share room- here it is again. We hope you will take a few minutes to fill it out: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AFCSAmidseasonsurvey
Upcoming Programs and Events:
Friday Farm Dinners: Every Friday in the Stone Paddock at 5:30PM. Join us for a summer evening of farm fresh food, live music, and lawn games! Pre-register online here
Fun in the Farmyard: Every Sunday in the Carriage Barn from 10am-3pm. FREE drop in program where you can meet the animals, make a farm craft, and learn all about Appleton Farms.
Rise and Shine Little Farmers: Saturdays at 9AM. Have you ever collected warm eggs from the chicken coop or seen how fast pigs will run for their morning helping of veggie scraps? This Saturday morning program brings families behind the scenes of our working farm. Pre-register online here
If you were unable to fill out the survey online or in the share room- here it is again. We hope you will take a few minutes to fill it out: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AFCSAmidseasonsurvey
Upcoming Programs and Events:
Cooking with Fire: August 28th at 6PM. Inspired by the farm’s very own wood-fired Earth Oven, this special workshop celebrates the season with signature recipes featuring the freshest farm ingredients along with all the skills needed to enjoy your own backyard grilling all summer long. Class begins in the farm kitchen with menu preparation, culinary tips, and instruction before heading outdoors to the kitchen patio for fun grilling, dining, and local beer! Pre-register online here
