CSA UPDATE

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Scott Hertzberg

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Jul 16, 2009, 4:31:22 PM7/16/09

to 2009 CSA List, jug...@verizon.net

We hope you enjoyed your shares this week. The shares included tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, fingerling potatoes, cucumbers, basil, swiss chard, squash, herbs and beans, The whole share was grown organically by us at the various places we farm around Croom.

We grew the fingerling potatoes at our friend Joann’s a little south of us. My friend Mike Klein and I harvested about five rows with his tractor mount potato harvester. Harvesting the potatoes by tractor as opposed to the old way with a shovel is a real thrill. We only harvested five rows on Sunday. With another twenty rows to harvest, we should have a very good potato crop this year. Let us know, if you can help pick the potatoes us with us this Sunday evening.

The bad news is that late blight wiped out a good half of our tomato crop. You may have read in the news that late blight is very bad this year because of the wet spring. The fungus spores blow up to 30 miles in the wind and are very hard to control with organic or conventional sprays. Late blight is the same fungus that caused the Irish potato famine and is much meaner than other tomato diseases. Fortunately, it does not strike every year. According to the news, this is the worse year in at least a decade.

The disease hit tall plants loaded with green tomatoes and took them out in three days. It would not have hurt so much if they were small plants. What this means for the CSA is that we will not have our usual glut of tomatoes. We still have a lot of tomato plants on other fields, including a late crop going in the greenhouse, and should be able to provide a decent amount in your shares. Diversity is key and we will try to make up for the lack of an abundance of tomatoes with a good selection of other summer crops.

Considering the strength of late blight this season, we are lucky that the potatoes did so well. The potato field is surrounded by trees which may have prevented any late blight spores from blowing in.

Next week your shares should include potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cherry tomatoes, Thai and Italian basil, eggplant and garlic. We may also be able to include corn and cucumbers from neighbor’s farms. Joe Goldsmith down the road who grows corn for us says that some may be ready by Monday for us. Odds are it will be ready with this heat.

Helping Out

We could definitely use some help either harvesting on Sunday or Mondays, or at the Hill pickup. Chris left us after working on the farm for two months. Two months seems to be about the length of time any twenty-something works on the farm.

Several high school students continue to help us throughout the week but we could use some help on Sundays and Mondays. If you are one of the shares working for a discount, please email what Sundays and Mondays are good for you, if you have not already. If you can volunteer to help out at pickup one time, that would be lovely. Next year, Farm Management plans to require all shares to help for one hour at pickup, so helping a bit this year will get you in shape for 2010.