The News from Windflower Farm
Hello from Windflower Farm. It’s been a very hot, dry week here. Irrigating, planting, weeding and more irrigating have been the theme.
What’s in your share?
- Garlic scapes
- Scallions
- Summer squashes
- ‘Kalebration’, a mix of several kale types
- Arugula
- Mei Qing Choi
- Romaine or red leaf lettuce
- Butterhead lettuce
- Kohlrabi
Your fruit will be the last of our organic strawberries. Flower shares will be delivered to all of our sites this week. Next week’s vegetable shares will include more salad crops, including sweet Japanese turnips, kohlrabi, green onions and salad greens, along with summer squashes.
What’s new at the farm?
Summer rainfall is hit or miss in the Hudson Valley, and so far, at least for us, it’s been nearly all miss. The ground where we have not irrigated is as dry as beach sand, and even the smallest vehicle sends out a plume of dust as it travels our farm roads. We are parched and desperate for rain. It’s a heart breaker when the next town over gets two inches of rain and you get nothing. We can be happy for our farming friends over the hill, but it still hurts. You cannot help but to think of the many hours and days that a single four hour rain can save. Our two vegetable fields are 12 and 24 acres in size, and, running two irrigation systems simultaneously, it takes about ten days to get them adequately watered – just in time to start the cycle all over again. It’s now been a few weeks of this, and our ponds are running quite low. Our wells are holding up but we are worried, and we are hoping for rain. In the meantime, we are switching over from sprinkler to drip irrigation everywhere we can. Beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, corn – all ordinarily sprinkler irrigated, now have drip lines on them. There is no cause for panic. I tell you all of this because, as members of our CSA, you are in this with us. You have done your part in that you have paid for a share and agreed to take on some of the risk, including the risk of drought-related loss. I want you to know that we are doing our very best every day to hold up our end of the bargain.
Best wishes, Ted
Central Brooklyn CSA 