Week of September 29, 2014
Abbreviated Weekly Farm Report
From Friendship Farms & Fare
http://www.fffsite.org/
A Community Service To the Local Farming Community
Garden Overview
Fall began on September 23. The summer crops are largely spent. Okra is declining quickly now, and the harvest is shrinking dramatically. Seed pods are gigantic, and we harvested more of those for next year’s seeds. More sweet potato leaves are yellowing, and harvest time has passed. Eggplant appears to have ceased producing fruit, although there are still numerous buds on the plants. We harvested a little okra yesterday, and we’ll dig more sweet potatoes today.
Rain is always welcome, but as we enter the seeding and planting season, heavy rains and overcast conditions become problematic, drowning seeds and seedlings, inhibiting root and leaf formation, and generally weakening young plants. This is happening here at our nursery. We’ve moved some cell trays inside to prevent the seeds and seedlings from drowning or being stunted.
Our seedlings are developing every slowly, and we’ve lost more than half those we planted.
We did relatively little seeding for the fall.
Fall Planning and First Plantings
Our early planting has been largely unsuccessful. As recommend by the Florida Department of Agriculture, and various commercial planting guides, we are planting fall and winter crops at the recommended time. However, rather than the cooling and drying conditions we should have in September, we are still experiencing full-on summer weather patterns – heat, humidity, and heavy rains on a nearly daily basis. The new climate-change weather renders current planting calendars obsolete. We need new and revised planting guides that take into account climate change.
We again took a break from fall seeding this week due to the persistent rains and overly damp conditions. We will again postpone our initial fall plantings another week at least (to 10/6). More young plants were washed out in the rains. The swiss chard is suffering the greatest damage. Only some of the collards are making progress. For full details on this week’s plantings, see the seeding and planting summary later in the Farm Report.
The first plants into the garden will be kales, collards, and broccoli. We will definitely plant arugula, whose seeds have generated with enthusiasm.
In recent years, September and even October have been too hot for the cool weather crops to develop. Nonetheless, we will continue our seed starting and garden transplants, and continue to hope that temperatures and precipitation get closer to their historical norms.
This fall we are going heavier on the cool-weather greens than we have in the past – collards, kale, and swiss chard. Our new experimental crop this fall will be spinach. Of course, we’ll have a healthy planting of arugula, and the famous Calabrese. Bell peppers will be planted in October, and we expect our habaneros to continue their irrepressible ways. We’ll forego cauliflower, and go heavy on broccoli. Tomatoes will be testers only, and only in set asides in the South Garden. Septoria has just been too hard on our tomatoes in previous years. For all plantings, we’ll use seeds from our collection or heirloom seeds from Seed Savers Exchange (http://www.seedsavers.org/).
Summer Wrap Up
The summer farming season is coming to an end. Okra harvests are shrinking each week, and will continue to diminish. The plants themselves are perishing. The sweet potato leaves are yellowing, and the wilting earlier each day it does not rain.
It continues to amaze how well the plants know their seasons and their life-spans. If only we knew our life and purpose as well as these generous plants who have sustained us since we first made them our companions 10,000 years ago.
We will continue putting energy into harvesting sweet potatoes over the next two weeks. Sweet potatoes are the most challenging and physically taxing crop to harvest. The reward is worth the labor, but there is a weight to the work, unlike the lighter labor of seeding, transplanting, and installing young plants in the garden. It looks like the eggplant may hold on for several more weeks.
Blackberries
Ouachita Family
The blackberry grove in the southeast corner of the south garden is coming along nicely. Christine Grovenstein of Seeds of Love Organic Farm lovingly shared these Ouachita Blackberries with us. Seeds of Love specializes in blueberries, but they also have a nice grove of blackberries. We are most appreciative to the generosity of Seeds of Love. We’ll try to share images of our grove in future mailings.
Planting & Harvest Notes
Start of Fall Seeding
Seedings: none – rained out
Garden Starts: none – rained out
Harvest Notes: okra, sweet potatoes, herbs, arugula, bell peppers, eggplant
3F Produce for non-shareholders
Non-shareholders may order shares for $12 per week. For this nominal amount, contributors may request any items they desire from the weekly Share. Although we will assist with transmissions, it is the responsibility of the contributor to make arrangements for pick up of the share.
As always, non-shareholders may request single items from the share list for $5 per item. A full share for one week (any/all items) is $12.
Just reply using the website contact link if you desire anything on the list. We suggest non-shareholders start an account to cover costs of items.
The 3F Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Project
Friendship Farms & Fare operates a unique small-scale (boutique) CSA, involving few participants, and using very basic management techniques. We are 100% organic and use permacultrures principles. Our program is recommended for single persons, couples, or (at most) three-person families. The cost of a share is low by typical CSA standards: $300 per garden year (October through September). This works out to a bit less than $6.00 per week. Donations are also gratefully received, with all donations going to maintenance and improvement of the gardens and groves.
If you are interested, contact: friendshipfarmsfare@gmail.com
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Visit the Friendship Farms & Fare website for the Weekly Farm Report:
http://www.fffsite.org/#!report/c1tuh
Friendship Farms & Fare is a branch of Ecology Florida, a not-for-profit corporation. Contributions to Friendship Farms & Fare and Ecology Florida are tax deductible. To learn more about Ecology Florida, please visit the website:
http://www.ecologyflorida.org/
If you would like to support our mission and individual projects, you may share donations through our website (above) or at our mailing address:
Ecology Florida
PO Box 596
New Port Richey, FL 34656-0596
Friendship Farms & Fare reaffirms, restores, and advances agrarian ideals to reestablish a sustainable culture
Ecology Florida advances the harmonious integration of healthy natural, cultural, and economic ecologies to regenerate a resilient world
