The News from Windflower Farm
Reminder: there will be no delivery next week. Have a Happy Fourth of July! Keep in mind that when we do resume deliveries, it will be week #6.
What’s in the share?
- Summer squash or zucchini
- Cucumbers
- Radishes
- Romaine lettuce
- Green oakleaf lettuce
- Kale
- Spring turnips
- Broccoli or Happy Rich Broccolini
The fruit share will be sweet cherries from Yonder Farm.
What’s new on the farm?
While people living in the Mid-Atlantic continue to live under a heat advisory, we have seen ours cut short by cloudy, wet weather. A storm, our third in as many days, has produced a power outage, and I’m writing under battery power.
An I&J cultivator could have a place on any small farm, and should have a place on ours, or so their advertising tells us. The tool is a glossy, bright red, which is probably good marketing. And the photos show it in use by some very good farmers producing handsome crops, which is more good marketing. What farmer isn’t looking for that well-designed implement, that bit of engineering magic that will make his crops as healthy and attractive as those in the pictures? The I&J Manufacturing website shows horse farmers using the tool and producing beautiful, weed-free crops, row after row. And if it works well behind a team of horses, just imagine how it would work behind a late model tractor. And so, we bought one.
That was a long time ago. In the intervening years we became distracted by the shiny new objects in organic farming: the European imports said to produce even more beautiful, weed-free crops. And so the I&J became idle. But weeds in vining crops – the sweet potatoes, winter squashes, cucumbers, and melons – continued to outsmart us despite those more recent purchases. So, back to square one, I pulled the I&J out of the weeds. Its red paint has lost some of its luster, but it still worked as it should. I spent the entire afternoon with the tool behind my work horse, the old John Deere 5425. I took time with wrenches and tape measures and really dialed it in. And then I cultivated the watermelons, cantaloupes, winter squashes, and sweet potatoes. And when I was finished, I was pleased with how the tool performed – those crops are weed-free. There is nothing like the simple joy of a tool that works as it should. The I&J deserves a place a little closer to my barnyard.
Have a great week, Ted
Central Brooklyn CSA 