The News from Windflower Farm
Last week was hot and dry. Irrigation went on around the clock, making use of all three wells and one of two ponds. To conserve water, we applied drip irrigation tape to all our sweet corn, onions, leeks, shallots and beets, crops that would ordinarily have been overhead or sprinkler irrigated. Our first beans have germinated well and are ready for their first cultivation. We cultivated (meaning weeded by tractor) the greens, onions and potatoes. The only weedy patches now are where we’ve just pulled covers off our broccoli and cabbage. We directly sowed beds of arugula, spinach, radishes, dill and cilantro. We planted second successions of sweet corn, cucumbers and zucchinis. Sweet potato slips arrived on Friday from North Carolina and planting them along with the young winter squash plants growing in our greenhouse will be a focus of the week ahead. There’s a large, nearly full moon out tonight. I’d call it a Planter’s Moon if it were up to me. The black locusts have begun to bloom and it’s safe to plant your garden.
What you’ll get this week
- Green Romaine lettuce
- Red oakleaf lettuce
- Red radishes, bunched
- Kohlrabi bulbs
- Assorted kales, bunched
- Genovese basil, potted
- The fruit share will be our own ‘Chandler’ strawberries on Tuesday and either our strawberries or Yonder Farm’s on Thursday.
News from the farm
A truck farm needs a delivery truck. Our lease with Penske expired in January, and it became time for something new. We decided to purchase rather than to lease, and the truck we selected is a diesel Isuzu NRR. Its box is six feet shorter and its cab, being of the stub nose variety, is perhaps four feet shorter than our last truck, shortening the whole package by a whopping ten feet. This was happy news to Don and Daniel, our drivers, who must navigate the congested streets of New York City twice a week. Every bit as important to the task of ducking around double-parked cars and trucks is that its insulated box is 6” narrower than the old one. Compared to the Penske rig, this truck seems to be the better design for city driving. The more perfect iteration would be electric. They are becoming available now, but their current range is less than half of what we’d need for the round trip from the farm. I expect that the range we need will come in time.
I filled in as the driver during the first CSA distribution last week. The Isuzu is no sports car, but it’s relatively comfortable and quiet. Its airscoop gives it style, its seat is comfortable, its air conditioning works well, and its dashboard is impressive: the large roadmap, the Bluetooth telephone, the audio system. These are features that our 13-year-old Honda doesn’t have. The backup camera hadn’t been installed, so I took it back to the dealer on Friday. By lucky coincidence, they happen to be located near where I keep my ancient sailboat, so I went out to enjoy the day while they looked it over. The mechanic who inspected the truck was very excited for us. He told me that 90percent of Isuzu box trucks make it to the 300,000-mile mark. I hope that it turns out to be reliable for us, but I still purchased an extended warranty. Perhaps by the time this Isuzu’s power train is worn out, we can drop an electric motor and transmission into this one and be part of the low carbon future.
Have a great week, Ted
PS Many of you have asked about Don. I’m happy to report that he had good news from his oncologist and expects to be back in the driver’s seat this week.
Central Brooklyn CSA 